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,:::, .ECLECTIC READINGS 



STORIES OF 

ERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Jr wAX X^l 1 1 LJLw' /\iVl. jLl/'JKulw/\i\,v^ 

BY 
ROSE LUCIA 




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STORIES OF 
AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



FOR 



LITTLE AMERICANS 



BY 

ROSE LUCIA 

PRINCIPAL OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS 
MONTPELIER, VERMONT 



/ have hut opened the gate for others to enter" 

— Columbus 



NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI ■:• CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



Elo 



^ 



Copyright, 1910, by 
ROSE LUCIA. 

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. 

american discoverers. 
\v. p. I 



C CI. A 25081 8 



Co 

M. G. R. 

WHO MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WORLD 

OF FLASHING SWORDS AND 

WAVING PLUMES 



PREFACE 

The study of history is not ordinarily enjoyed by chil- 
dren. This is perhaps due to the fact that the text-book 
employed is dull, or that the subject is not of interest to 
the teacher presenting it, or to the fact that the pupil's 
previous experience with the primary grade history sto- 
ries has not been such as to create any desire for fuller 
knowledge of the subject. 

Now and then a girl or a boy is found to whom the 
study appeals, who sees the plan of action, who delights 
in the carrying out of large and small designs, to whom 
accidents have their meanings. Such a pupil has a mind 
for more than dry facts. He seizes upon the romance of 
the situation, whether it be in the case of Columbus with 
his handful of men crossing an unknown sea, or in the 
case of the last political campaign. It is in the hope of 
helping more minds to attain to this condition that these 
stories have been written. 

The discoverers and explorers of the Western Hemi- 
sphere have, in their adventures, given us a fair field 
from which to glean stories wonderful enough to hold the 
attention of young children The swords and helmets of 
these men shine as brightly as those of even fairy prince- 
lings. What they dared and did is not less than the deeds 



VI 



PREFACE 



of him who cHmbed the glass hill or of Jack of Beanstalk 
fame. What they searched for is not less wonderful than 
the bird from whose wings dropped golden feathers, or 
the cambric which was drawn through the eye of a 
needle. And what they found appeals to the imagination 
in as great a degree as the finding of enchanted castles 
and fairy gold. 

It is the aim of these stories so to deal with the adven- 
turers and the adventures that the first touch of history 
shall come to the pupil in the form of tales as amazing 
as those in the well-loved fairy books. That these tales 
are true should not detract from their power to interest. 
Live men instead of tinseled princes played the great 
games herein recorded — at what cost of peril and hard- 
ship ! 

As nearly as possible the stories are written in chrono- 
logical order, and in several instances are somewhat con- 
nected, since the lives of many of the adventurers were 
interwoven. An attempt has been made to define so 
plainly the explorations by the different nations that the 
reason for the occupation of the two continents in parts 
by the Spanish, English, French, and Dutch will be readily 
comprehended and perhaps remembered. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Little Christopher Columbus i 

The First Voyage of Columbus 3 

Columbus plans a Long Voyage 6 

King John of Portugal 9 

Columbus and Diego go to Spain 12 

Queen Isabella of Spain 15 

The Three Ships 19 

Land at Last 22 

Sailing back to Spain . . . . . . . -27 

America 31 

John Cabot 33 

The New Continent 36 

Don Diego 39 

The Search for Fairyland 41 

The Southern Continent 45 

The Man who hid in the Barrel 47 

The South Sea . . .51 

Sailing to Mexico 54 

The First Treasures . . - 57 

The Sinking of the Ships 60 

Wonderful Sights 64 

The City of Mexico 66 

Aztec Children at School 70 

vii 



VIU 



CONTENTS 



The Empekor Montezuma 

The Captuue of Mexico 

Another Great Sailor . 

The Discovery (jf the Passage 

The Ships that sam.ed around the World 

PiZARRO AND Al.MAGRO 

PizAKRo's Second Advh;nture 
The Peruvians .... 
The Peruvians {continued) 
The Inca Atahuallpa . 
A Room Full of Gold . 
The Golden Country at Last 
The Adventuke of a French Sail 
The Frenchmen and the Indians 
What Jacques Cartier Found 
Up the St. Lawrence JIiver . 
The March of Hernando de Soto 
The Discovery of thic Mississippi Kivi;r 
Lost in North America .... 
The King's Treasure House . 
Francis Drake's Wish .... 
The English Dragon .... 
Samuel de Champlain .... 
How Champlain went on the. Warpath. 
The Dutch Ship Half Moon- 

Locked in the Ice 

Adrift on Hudson B\v . 

Words to be Explained and Pronounced 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 
FOR LITTLE AMERICANS 



T 



LITTLE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

HIS story is about a little Italian boy who 
became a great sailor when he grew up. 
He thought about so many new 
things, and traveled so far to see if 
they were true, that the world has 
seemed larger ever since to most 
of the people who have lived on it. 

He was born in the city of 
Genoa more than four hundred 
years ago. He lived there with 
his father and mother, his brothers 
and sister, until he was fourteen 
years old. 

His home was a narrow house, 
such as city people live in. It 
had windows in the front and 
back, and high buildings close 
against it on each side, and no 
yard at all. 




2 STORIES OF AiMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

So little Columbus liked to go down to the 
wharf to play, where he could look at the big blue 
sea, and watch the ships sail in and out of the 
harbor. 

Genoa has high mountains on one side of it, and 
the sea on the other, so that when one looks out, he 
is sure to see either the blue water or the blue sky. 
Maybe that was why the boys who grew up there 
liked so well to become sailors. 

At any rate they used to go down to the wharf 
to play, and Christopher was often with them. 

He used to watch the sailors unload the cargo 
from the ships that came sailing in, and to wish 
he could see the lands from which they came. 

He learned how the great sails were pulled up and 
down, and how the ships were steered, and many 
other things that were useful to him afterwards. 

Some one has made a beautiful statue of him 
as he looked when he sat on one of the big 
posts to which the ships were fastened, while they 
stayed in the harbor. 

He has a book in his hands. He looks as if he 
might be dreaming of what he would do when he 
should be the captain of a ship. This statue is in 
Boston. 

But Christopher didn't spend all his time dream- 
ing of great things to do by and by. He studied 



THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 3 

his lessons at school. He could write and draw 
so well that his father was really proud of him. 

His father was a wool comber. He wished Chris- 
topher, who was his eldest son, to learn the same 
trade. Then they could work together. But he 
saw that Christopher liked the sea too well to be 
willing to stay at home and work in the shop. 

So, when Christopher had learned all he could 
at his first school, his father sent him to another 
higher school away from home. There he could 
be taught more about arithmetic, and the stars, 
and how to draw maps. For all these things help 
men to become good sailors. 



THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 



C 




HRISTOPHER'S father had a cousin 
who was a sailor; and when Christo- 
pher was fourteen years old, 
this cousin took him to sea. 
We do not know just 
where he sailed, nor how 
long he was gone on 
this first voyage. He 
liked it so well that he 
was glad to go again and 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 




again. Whenever he came home, he would help 
his father in the shop for a while. 

But he always sailed away as soon as he could 

find a captain who 
wanted a boy to 
work in his crew. 

Sometimes the 
ships went to other 
countries, and brought back 
loads of goods to sell to 
the merchants in Genoa. 
Sometimes they went to 
wars, and fought with the 
enemy's ships at sea. 

Once, when Christopher 

was on board a ship from 

Genoa, there was a fight 

between his crew and the 

crew of another vessel 

which they met. At last 

the two ships were lashed 

together so that the men could fight the harder. 

They threw bombs over into each other's ships. 

The ships caught fire. The sailors had to jump 

into the water to save themselves from burning. 

Christopher was a very good swimmer. By the 
help of an oar, which he found floating in the sea. 




^% 



j^^vE".; 



HE SWAM MORE THAN FI\'E MILES. 



THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 5 

he swam more than five miles to the coast of the 
nearest country. 

This country was called Portugal. Columbus re- 
mained there for several years, earning his living by 
drawing maps and charts. 

Near his home was a convent church. Here he 
used to pray and give thanks that he had been saved 
from drowning in the stormy sea. And here he 
often saw a young girl named Filippa. 

Her father was a sailor, and she was staying in 
the convent while he was away on a long voyage. 
The good nuns who lived in the convent were tak- 
ing care of her. Columbus loved her and married 
her. 

She used to show Columbus the maps her father 
had made and the stories he had written about his 
voyages and about the strange things he had seen 
and heard far from home. 

Columbus liked to read these stories. He thought 
of almost nothing else, until at length he began to 
plan a voyage that no one had ever undertaken. 




STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

COLUMBUS PLANS A LONG VOYAGE 

COLUMBUS had learned a queer thing about 
the world when he went to school. His 
teacher had taught him that it was flat — 
very long and wide — but perfectly flat, 
with the great sea all around the edge. 
How wide the sea was, or what would 
happen if one went too near the edge, 
one hardly dared think. 
But when Columbus became a man, he learned 
that some wise people had begun to believe that this 
was a round world instead of a flat one. Columbus 
studied about it and remembered all the strange 
stories he had heard, and he knew this must be true. 
He believed, too, that there were far-away lands 
which none of his countrymen had seen. For once 
it happened that some sailors, who had lost their 
way at sea, found a paddle flcfating in the water. 

It was carved in a curious way, quite different 
from anything they had ever known. They brought 
it home and everybody wondered about it. Who 
had made such a queer paddle ? 

" It must be some man who lives in a far land we 
have never seen," they said. " One day perhaps he 
lost it from his boat, and the waves carried it out 
to sea." 



COLUMBUS PLANS A LONG VOYAGE 



And the peo- 
ple wished they 
knew what the 
boat looked like 
and what the 
man looked like. 

Some of the 
wise men who 
were studying 
about these 
things wished 
THEY knew what 
that far-away 
land looked like. 
Columbus also 
wished he knew. 

He wished it 
so much that when another 
sailor came home and told 
him he had seen some new 
islands, — so distant that they 
looked like clouds, — Colum- 
bus felt as if he must go and 
find those islands. 

But he would need a large ship, and much money 
to pay the men to sail it, and whole boxes of food 
to eat while they were gone. 




WHO HAD MADE SUCH A 
QUEER PADDLE? 



8 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Now Columbus was poor. He earned his living 
by making maps and charts for other people to sail 
by. He made very good ones, but he couldn't earn 
money enough to go sailing himself. 

His wife had died, and he wished to take good 
care of his little son, Diego. What could he do ? 

One night, when he was thinking about it, he de- 
cided to 2:0 to the Kinsrof Portuo^al and tell him what 
he wished. For of course the king had plenty of 
money, and perhaps he would like to find out about 
those strange islands. 

Perhaps he would like to be king of the islands 
and get more money. For maybe there would be 
gold in that new land. 

This King John of Portugal traded with a dis- 
tant country that sent him gold and spices and 
other precious things. It was called India. 

It took a long time for people to go to India. 
First they sailed for many days. Then they had 
to leave the ships and travel miles and miles on 
land before reaching that country. 

Columbus thought that perhaps, besides finding 
the new islands, he could find a shorter way to get 
to that rich country. 

" F'or," he said, " if the earth is round, there must 
be two ways of reaching a place. And if it is a long 
way to India traveling toward the east, maybe 'tis a 



KING JOHN OF PORTUGAL 9 

short way sailing west. Maybe you can sail all the 
way by going west and not have to travel on land 
at all. I will tell King John about it." 



KING JOHN OF PORTUGAL 



O Columbus went to King John. King 
John was interested in his story. He 
called in some wise men to tell them 
about it, and to ask them what he had 
belter do. 

Some of them told him to try what 
Columbus planned. But most of them 
said he had better use his money to 
make a war. So King John decided 
not to buy any ships for Columbus. 
But he kept thinking what a splendid 
thing it would be to own those new islands - — if 
there really were any islands. And he thought how 
grand it would be to find a new way to India 
without Columbus to help. So he did a very un- 
fair thing. 

He asked Columbus to bring him the map he 
had made to sail by. He said he should like to 
look it over. Columbus brought it. The king 




10 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



had a man make one just like it. Tlien he gave 
it back to Columbus and said it was a very foolish 
map, after all, for of course the world was flat. 

Then King 
John sent out a 
ship and some 
sailors, and they 
took a copy of 
Columbus's map 
to help them find 
their way across 
the sea. But 
very soon they 
went back and 
told the king 
that there was 
nothing but 
clouds out there. 

COLUMBUS BROUGHT HIS MAP TO KING JOHN. " C O 1 U U^ h U S 

must be crazy," they said. " There are no new 
islands, and there is no new way to go to India." 

But these sailors of King John hadn't dared 
to go far enough out to sea to find anything new. 
Maybe they were afraid the ship would fall off the 
edge of the world. So they had sailed back and 
told the king a wrong story. 

Columbus was discouraijed because no one would 




KING JOHN OF PORTUGAL 



II 



help him. But after a while he thought perhaps 
some other king might listen to him. So he took 
little Diego by the hand, and they set out to walk 
to Spain. Perhaps the King of Spain would like 
him to search for a short way to sail to India. 

It was hot and dusty on the roads, and little 
Diego couldn't walk very fast or very far. Colum- 
bus used to carry him when he grew tired. They 
were often hungry and thirsty. When no one 
would let them have a bed, they slept by the 
roadside. They were so poor that sometimes they 
begged for their food. 

I think little Diego must have wished his father 
had never heard of those strange lands. Yet some- 
thing told Columbus not to give up, but to keep on 
trying. And people say he had a look in his eyes 
as if he saw beyond the seas already. 





12 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

COLUMBUS AND DIEGO GO TO SPAIN 

AFTER they had walked many days and were 
1^ very tired, Columbus and little Diego 
came one night to the gate of a convent. 
A good monk let them in, and told 
them that they might 
have supper and a 
li^ji . I ffe'L bed in the convent. 
Sometimes when 
men wish to think about God 
and how to be good, they go away from the 
villages and cities and live apart in a big lonely 
house that is called a convent. I hese men are 
called monks. Here they pray and study and give 
food and rest to the poor who come to ask for it. 
The oldest and wisest monk is called the prior. 

The name of this convent was La Rabida, and 
the prior was called Prior Juan. After supper he 
called Columbus to him and asked him why he had 
come to Spain. 

Columbus told him all about what he hoped to 
do, and how badly King John had treated him. He 
told how he hoped to see King Ferdinand and 
Queen Isabella of Spain, and to ask them if they 
would help him sail across the sea and find new 
lands. 



COLUMBUS AND DIEGO GO TO SPAIN 1 3 

Now Prior Juan used to live at court with 
Queen Isabella ; he knew the queen very well and 
she liked him. He was interested in what Colum- 
bus told about his great plan of finding new islands 
and a shorter route to India. He said he would 
send a messenger to the queen to ask her if Colum- 
bus might come to tell her about it. 

But going to see a queen is quite different from 
going to see some other people. A queen never 
comes to the door herself. There are a great many 
doors to go through and a great many people to 
pass, before one really comes to a queen upon her 
throne. 

So the letter that the prior wrote to the queen 
about Columbus had to be carried to several men, 
before it could be taken to the palace at all. 

One of the men, when he read it, decided that 
the letter was so foolish it wouldn't do to trouble 
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella with it. 

So he tore the writing up and Columbus waited 
and waited at the convent. After a long time 
he left Diego with the monks and went on to 
the city. 

The king and the queen were making a war, Co- 
lumbus thought, perhaps, if he waited until the war 
was over, the king and the queen would have time 
to listen to him. So he worked hard to earn some 



14 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



money, and he kept studying and thinking about 
his great plan. 

When the king and the queen moved to another 
city, Columbus moved, too. He followed them every- 
where, to be sure to be near, if there should come a 
chance to tell his story. 




A MESSENGER FROM THE KING AND THE QUEEN. 

People used to think he was a crazy man. When 
children met him on the street, they would tap their 
foreheads with their fingers. They meant by this 
that Columbus had something the matter with his 
head. 

At last the war w^as over. One day when Colum- 
bus was out at La Rabida to visit little Diego, there 
came a messenger from the king and the queen. 

The messenger said that Columbus might come 
soon to tell them his story. The queen sent him 



QUEEN ISABELLA OF SPAIN 1 5 

money to buy new clothes and a mule to ride upon. 
Columbus was more glad than we can think. 

When the day came, he rode to the palace. Then 
he walked through the great hall to the throne where 
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were sitting. 
The wise men and nobles of Spain were all around 
them, and Columbus looked as wise and noble as 
any one. 

He was very tall and walked slowly, with his head 
up and his shoulders straight .like a soldier. His 
hair was white, perhaps because he had worked so 
hard and suffered so much. 

He had a beautiful high forehead and eyes that 
looked as if he could see around the world. When 
he spoke, his voice was deep, and everybody listened. 



QUEEN ISABELLA OF SPAIN 

OLUMBUS explained his whole plan 
to the king and the queen, the wise 
men, and the nobles. They asked 
him questions; they said it couldn't 
be true that the earth is round. So 
he patiently began at the beginning 
of the story and told it all over again. 

The queen believed it. So did some of the wise 




i6 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



men. But the others couldn't understand about It. 
They told the king it would be foolish to buy ships 
and send such a man out on the Sea of Darkness. 
It would be much better to put the money in a box 



where it could not get lost. 




THE SEA OF DARKNESS. 



Then they asked Columbus, " If you should find 
the new islands, and there should be people there, 
and gold and other precious things, what would 
you do } 

"' Would you sail straight home and tell the king 
and the queen about it and give everything to them 
— the gold, and the land, and the people ? " 

" No," said Columbus. " If I find the islands, 
one eighth of all the gold and precious things must 
belong to me, and I must be governor of the people." 



QUEEN ISABELLA OF SPAIN 1 7 

They were surprised at this. They told him that 
he must indeed be a crazy man to ask so much. 

For, of course, if the king gave him the money 
to buy ships and to pay the sailors, the land which 
he found ought to belong to the king. So ought 
all the gold and precious things. 

But Columbus said, "The king has never thought 
about all those strange lands. He has never learned 
how to sail a ship, nor how to make a map to go by. 
All these things that would be my part to do are 
worth yellow gold and the honor of being governor, 
too. I will not go without the promise of these 
things." 

Then they said, "You'll never go at all, for you 
ask too much of us." 

So Columbus left the court and went away very, 
very sorrowful. He had tried so hard, and waited 
so long, and hoped so much, and now it was of no 
use. 

But he never thought of giving up his plan. He 
started away to see the King of France. Maybe 
he would be wiser and kinder than King Ferdinand. 

He was riding sadly along, when he heard gallop- 
ing hoofs behind him. He turned to find a mes- 
senger from Queen Isabella hurrying to catch up 
with him. The messenger brought good news. 

Some of the wise men had "one to Oueen Isa- 



l8 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

bella and talked with her. They had said, " What 
a pity if there really are some new lands, to let 
Columbus go away and find them for the king of 
some other country 1 

" That king will then own lands which Spain 
might have owned. If there arc riches in the new 
islands, his country and not ours will be the richer. 
Is this best for Spain ? " 

Queen Isabella was a good woman, as well as a 
queen. She wanted to do what was right for Co- 
lumbus, and for her country. 

So she said, " If King Ferdinand will not take 
the money out of his strong box, I will sell my 
jewels, and give the money for Columbus's ships. 
All my bracelets and rings and chains I will sell to 
furnish the ships needed for this voyage." 

She sent a messenger to tell Columbus not to go 
to France. The messenger overtook him on a little 
bridge and told him the good news that Queen 
Isabella would help him. 

How glad Columbus was, as he turned and rode 
back to the city ! It seemed to him as if at last his 
dreams would all come true. His long waiting 
was over, and soon he would start on his wonderful 
journey. 



THE THREE SHIPS 



19 




THE THREE SHIPS 

COLUMBUS had three ships in which 
to go saiUng. He himself went in 
the largest, called the Santa Maria. 
Another was called the Pinta, and 
the smallest one of all was the 
Nina — a Spanish word for baby. 
Each ship had a captain, and 
Columbus was the admiral, or 
commander, of them all. 

There were about one hundred 
men on the three ships, and it was hard to get as 
many as that. People were afraid to go on such an 
uncertain voyage. They feared that they might drop 
off the edge of the sea ; that the sea was boiling 
water ; that great dragons might fly down and eat 
them. They feared all sorts of foolish things. 

Some of the men who promised to go with 
Columbus were so frightened, when the time came 
to leave, that they wouldn't keep their promise, and 
had to be dragged on board the ships. Their poor 
wives and sisters cried, because they thought they 
should never see them again. 

A priest went down to the shore to say a prayer 
for Columbus and his men. Altogether it was a 
very solemn and sorrowful time. 



20 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



Columbus was 
the only one who 
had good courage. 
He had waited so 
long and tried so 
hard to get started 
that he was veiy 
glad and hopeful 
now. 

So they sailed 
out of the little 
Spanish town of 
Palos, early one 
Auoriist morninir 
in 1492. By and 
by the sailors be- 
came more cheer- 
ful, for thev knew 
the part of the 
ocean they were in. 

But, when a month had passed, and they had 
sailed out farther than any of them had ever been, 
they were afraid again. 

Columbus did all he could to quiet them. He 
didn't tell them how far the ships had sailed. He 
thought, if they knew what a long way it was, they 
would be still more frightened. 




COI.UMIiUS WOULD STAND IN THE PKOW OF 
THE SUIP. 



THE THREE SHIPS 21 

He tried to keep up their courage by talking 
about the gold and the beautiful things they would 
find in the new country. He told them it would 
be a fine thing to see that wonderful land, 
and then go back to Spain and tell everybody 
about it. 

But sometimes at night it would all look doubtful 
to them again. Things do not seem the same when 
it is dark and lonely. The sailors would scold 
Columbus for bringing them way out to the edge of 
the world. Then they would go to sleep and per- 
haps dream of falling off. 

Columbus and the captain of the Santa Maria 
used to talk together in the evening. The captain 
would say, " What , shall I tell them to-morrow 
morning, when they ask me why we don't see the 
islands } " 

" Tell them to sail on ! " Columbus would reply. 

" What shall I say if they tell me the boiling 
water will swallow us up?" 

" Sail on ! " Columbus would say. And he made 
the same answer to all the captain's questions. 

Then the captain would go to bed and leave 
Columbus alone upon the little deck. He would 
stand in the prow of the ship and look at the dark 
water beneath and at the stars overhead. 

He could hear the waves lapping against the side 



22 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



of the ship, and the ropes and the sails creaking in 
the wind. 

He thought how far they had come over the sea ; 
how far they might still have to go before they 
found land. He thought how great was the world 
that God had made, and how small the ships that 
man had made. 

He watched for a light in the night, and listened 
for some sound that would tell of land near by. 
But always he saw only the black water, and heard 
the creaking sails. By and by the sun would rise 
over the rim of the sea, and another day would 
begin. 



LAND AT LAST 

FTER a great many such days and 
nights of waiting and watching, the 
sailors were at last discouraged. 

They said to Columbus, " If you 
do not let us turn the ships around 
and go home, we will throw you over- 
board, and steer for ourselves." 
Columbus talked to them and tried to make 
them promise to sail on a little farther. 

They said, "We will sail three more days and 




LAND AT LAST 23 

nights, and then if there is no land in sight, you 
must oro home." 

There was nothing for Columbus to do but to 
promise them this. So the last day was the most 
anxious one of all for him. He said to himself, " If 
we do not come in sight of land to-night, then this 
great voyage will end in nothing, and I must go 
home disgraced." 

He had offered a prize to the sailor who should 
first see land. That very night Columbus himself 
saw a light that moved up and down, as if some 
one were carrying a torch along the shore. 

Early the next morning, October 12, 1492, the 
cry of " Land ! Land ! " came from one of the ships. 
Everybody looked out to see where it was. There 
before them was a long green island, not very far 
away. 

The shore was of bright yellow sand ; there were 
woods of green trees, and above that was the blue 
sky. Here and there could be seen some queer 
huts, shaped like pointed beehives. Copper-colored 
men, women, and children were running up and down 
the shore. 

The sailors fell down at Columbus's feet and 
begged his forgiveness for not having believed what 
he told them about new lands. For there one lay 
before their eyes. 



24 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 




THEY KOWKD SLOWLY TO THE ISLAND. 

Then they all sang a Spanish hymn, " Glory be- 
to God in heaven and earth." As soon as they had 
finished the "Amen," Columbus put on his beauti- 
ful scarlet cloak, and took in his hand the great 
Spanish flag that Queen Isabella had given him. 



LAND AT LAST 2$ 

He stepped into a little boat with some of his 
men. A boat put out from each of the other ships. 
They rowed slowly to the island, and Columbus was 
the first one to step upon the shore of the New 
World. 

He knelt down and kissed the earth that was so 
precious to him. Then he raised a cross in the 
yellow sand of the shore. He said, " I take pos- 
session of this land in the name of King Ferdinand 
and Queen Isabella." 

The copper-colored men were standing a little 
way off, looking at these strange white people and 
wondering what it all meant. They had never seen 
any people like them before. 

They thought that they were gods come down out 
of the sky on great white-winged birds, as they called 
the ships. But Columbus made signs for them to 
come near, and at last they dared to walk up to the 
strange white men. 

They became quite well acquainted afterwards, 
for Columbus and most of his men landed on the 
island next day and stayed a long time. They 
walked into the thick forests, and up and down 
the shore, to see if they could find any gold or 
pearls. 

They saw strange birds and trees and flowers, 
but they did not see gold. The copper-colored 



26 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

people knew about gold, but they said Columbus 
would have to go a very long way to find it. 

Columbus named these dark-colored people In- 
dians, because he thought he had sailed halfway 
round the world and was near India. He did not 
know that he was near a new continent. 

Columbus visited other islands. One of them he 
liked so much that he called it Hispaniola, which 
means " Spanish land." The climate of the islands 
was so warm that many beautiful things grew there, 
but Columbus did not find any gold. 

When he had learned all he could about these 
new islands, he decided to sail back to Spain and 
tell Queen Isabella about them. 

The captain of the Piiita had deserted Columbus 
and sailed for home. The Santa Maria had been 
broken to pieces on the rocks outside the harbor. 

So Columbus took the ship's timbers and built a 
little fort on the shore of Hispaniola. He left a few 
men in it to keep guard over the place until he 
could come back. He sailed away with the rest, 
taking some of the Indians to show to the Spanish 
people. 



SAILING BACK TO SPAIN 



27 



SAILING BACK TO SPAIN 




T wasn't so hard for Columbus to sail 
back to Spain, because, of course, 
he knew the way. It was a very- 
stormy voyage, but it was different 
from sailing away from Spain, out 
on an unknown sea. 

The men all liked Columbus now, 
because they knew how wise and 
kind he was. They were proud to 
think they had sailed with him. 

All the sailors were in a great hurry 
to get home and tell people about the wonderful 
things they had seen. The ship could not go fast 
enough to suit them. 

When they sailed, at last, into the Spanish har- 
bor, crowds of people rushed down to the wharf to 
see them land. It was quite different from the 
day when they sailed away. No tears and good- 
byes now, but glad times for everybody. 

When King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella heard 
that Columbus had reached home, they sent for him 
to come at once to tell them his story. 

So he put on his fine clothes again for this 
solemn occasion. He took with him his captains 
and the Indians from over the sea. The Indians 



28 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

were all decked out in feathers and paint. All to- 
gether they made a great procession. 

Queen Isabella was so glad and proud to see 
Columbus that she allowed him to sit down when 
he talked to her. They talked a long time, and 
everybody bowed low to him when at last he left the 
court. 

Another day the queen and all those wise men 
who had once thought that Columbus was crazy had 
a grand dinner to honor him. 

One of them said at dinner, "After all it is not 
such a great thing that you have done. It wasn't 
very hard to find the east by sailing west." 

Then Columbus took an egg and asked, " Can 
you make this stand on one end .'' " The man 
tried, but of course it fell over at once. The others 
tried, but no one could make the egg stand up. 

So Columbus took it, broke off a bit from one 
end, and stood it up quite straight on the table. 
Then he said, " Of course it is easy enough to do 
almost anything, if some one first shows you the 
way." And that wise man said no more. 

After Columbus had rested a little while in 
Spain, and had told Queen Isabella all about the 
new islands, he wished to set sail again. This time 
it was very easy for him to start. The queen was 
glad to help him, and many Spanish men wished 



SAILING BACK TO SPAIN 



29 




ALL TOGETHER THEY MADE A GREAT PROCESSION. 



to sail with him. So he had many ships, and sailed 
away very grandly. 

When they landed on the island which Columbus 
had named Hispaniola, they looked for the little fort 
that he had built. It was not there. All the men 



30 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

who had been left to take care of the fort were gone, 
too. It took Columbus a long time to find out what 
had become of them. 

Finally he learned that his men had been cruel 
to the Indians. So the Indians had killed them 
and burned the fort. This was the very beginning 
of the trouble between the Indians and the white 
men. It has lasted long years and makes a sad 
story. 

On this second trip Columbus found other new 
islands, and still others when he came again, a few 
years later, on his fourth voyage. 

It was on his third voyage that he found land 
which he supposed to be another island near 
India. 

But we know now that it was the shore of a 
very large body of land, which is called the conti- 
nent of South America. 

You must remember that all the rest of his life 
Columbus thought he had sailed halfway round 
the world and had found the short route to India. 

He did not know that a great continent and an- 
other great ocean lie between. He thought that the 
world was much smaller than it really is. 



AMERICA 



31 



AMERICA 




fT is a pity that Columbus never 
knew how large is the New 
World that he found. When he 
was older, he had many sad days, 
and things were discouraging 
again. 

Queen Isabella died. She was 
his best friend. King Ferdinand didn't care to help 
Columbus as she had done. Some of his men told 
untruths about him. Once he was put in prison be- 
cause one of his captains told untrue stories to the 
king. 

All his life he was trying to find out about new 
things, and much trouble and sorrow it cost him. 
All the things he found out made the world seem 
bigger and better for us to live in. 

This new country, which Columbus found, should 
have been named for him. Sometimes in poems it 
is called Columbia. There is a song which people 
Hke to sing about " Columbia, the gem of the 
ocean." But we always speak of our land as 
America, and in books and on maps the name is 
printed so-. 

This happened because another man came to 
the New World after Columbus had found it. 



32 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



Then he wrote a book about his voyage and about 
the lands he saw. His name was Amerigo Ves- 
pucci. He had been with Columbus on one of his 
voyages. 

Vespucci did not believe that he had sailed 
around the world to India. He believed the land 
that had been found was a new continent. And so 
it proved to be. 

People read his book and began to call the new 
land America. So Columbus was almost forgotten 
for a while. He had never written a book about 
his travels. All the records he left when he died 
were the maps and charts he had sailed by, and the 
letters he had written to the queen, when he was 
away at sea. 

But since then many men in many lands have 
remembered to honor Columbus. And the three 
ships which crossed the Sea of Darkness on Co- 
lumbus's first voyage have become famous. 




JOHN CABOT 



33 



JOHN CABOT 




of Spain 
explorer. 



NOT HER Italian boy, born in 
Genoa, as Columbus was, grew up 
to sail the seas. He made great 
discoveries for the king of a far 
country. 

Columbus made his voyages with 
the help of the King and the Queen 
John Cabot was the name of this other 
He set sail to find new lands for King 
Henry VH of England. 

He lived in Venice for a while, and then moved 
to England with his three sons. He was a mer- 
chant, but he was interested in maps and ships and 
the great blue sea, just as Columbus was. 

He told King Henry he should like to sail away 
to find lands for him. Everybody knew now that 
Columbus had really crossed the ocean and found 
new lands for his king. 

So King Henry gave John Cabot some ships and 
men. Cabot took his son Sebastian, and put out 
into the northern ocean in May, 1497. This was 
before Columbus had landed on South America. 
So, while Columbus was sailing for the King of 
Spain, Cabot was sailing for the King of England. 
Cabot had more men and ships than Columbus. 



34 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

His voyage was more dangerous, because of the 
cold winds and icebergs he met. 

Icebergs are huge blocks of floating ice, some- 
times as large as mountains. They come from the 
Northland. They are very dangerous, for a ship 
may run against them on dark nights, and be 
smashed to pieces. 

Columbus did not see any icebergs. He sailed 
across the sea farther south, where it is warmer. 

But if Cabot's voyage was more dangerous than 
Columbus's in some ways, it was far better in others. 
His sailors obeyed him, and they were not so much 
afraid to set out to cross the sea. 

Columbus had shown that it could be done with- 
out falling off the edge of die earth. It is easier to 
do things after the way has been shown, as Colum- 
bus once said. 

When Cabot found land at last, it seemed a very 
cold country, for they had crossed the sea so far to 
the north. It was quite different from the warm 
islands Columbus had found. This land was the 
new continent of North America. 

Cabot took possession of the land for the King of 
England. He planted a great English flag in the 
earth to show that he did so. Then right beside it 
he placed the flag of his own country, Venice. 

He must have said to himself, " I am sailing for 



JOHN CABOT 



35 



the King of England, I claim this new land for 
King Henry. But I am not an Englishman. I will 
place my own flag here, too. This will show that 
I have not forgotten my love for Italy." 

There were no people to be seen where Cabot 
landed, but he knew men had lived there. He 
found some trees cut down, a snare that had been 
made to catch animals, and a big bone needle. The 
people must have used this to mend their fishing 
nets. 

He took the snare and the needle home to show 
to the king. He thought the men had run away 
when they saw the ship coming. 

Cabot did not stay and explore as long as Colum- 
bus did, but he sailed home and told the king 
about the cold country. Now King Henry wasn't 
satisfied with what Cabot told him. He wished 
to know more about North America. He wished 
to know if gold and silver could be found there. 





36 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

THE NEW CONTINENT 

HE very next year King Henry of 
England sent Sebastian Cabot across 
the ocean to see what he could find. 
John Cabot had probably died, but 
no one knows. Nothing more is 
ever told about him in history books. 
This seems strange when we remember that he 
discovered the continent of North America. It 
seems strange that the English people should have 
forgotten him. 

But he had taught his son Sebastian about boats 
and geography, so Sebastian could go to sea. The 
king gave Sebastian a big ship for himself and 
three other smaller ones. Sebastian and his men 
carried some bright-colored cloth and caps and 
shiny beads to please the Indians, if they found any. 
They sailed about as long and as far as John 
Cabot had sailed. Then they turned toward the 
south, because a great pack of ice from the north 
floated down in their way. 

A little farther south, Sebastian Cabot discovered 
an island, which he named New Found Land. Near 
there he saw a great many large codfish in the 
water. 

One sailor told a story about this when he got 



THE NEW CONTINENT 



^7 



home. He said, " We used to watch from the deck 
of the ship and see white bears come down to the 
shore and catch fish out of the water." 

Cabot followed the coast of North America, 
which is the continent where we live, for many 
miles, sailing toward the south all the time. But 
he did not find any gold or riches. The food in his 
ships was almost gone, so he sailed back to 
England. 

King Henry was disappointed because Sebastian 
Cabot had found no gold. Cabot told the king 
about the good place to catch cod, but he wasn't 
interested in that. He wished for gold. 




WHITE BE.\KS CAME DOWN TO THE SHORE. 



38 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

A few years later the English people began to go 
over near Newfoundland to fish. Ever since then 
the "Grand Banks," as they are called, have fur- 
nished plenty of fish for England to buy and sell. 

Although King Henry did not care much about 
it, the land that the Cabots had discovered belonged 
to England, just as the land that Columbus had dis- 
covered belonged to Spain. And we must always 
remember that John Cabot and his sons were the 
first to discover North America, the great continent 
where we live. 

After a few years, Sebastian Cabot went to Spain 
and made some voyages for the king of that coun- 
try. On one voyage he crossed the ocean farther 
south, as Columbus had done. 

He discovered the mouth of a great river in 
South America. But the Spanish king wanted 
gold, too, and did not care about finding new 
rivers. 

So Cabot went back to England to live. Here 
he died, an old man of eighty. There is a picture 
of him which shows how old and wise he looked 
then. 

He has a globe in his hand and is pointing out 
places on it with a compass. His hair is very white, 
and he wears a little black velvet cap. 



DON DIEGO 



39 



DON DIEGO 




HEN Columbus set sail on the Sea 
of Darkness, the King of Spain 
promised him many things, if 
he found new lands. 

He was to have his share of 
treasure, and he was to be 
governor of any lands he might 
discover. Then, when he died, his son Diego was 
to be governor in his place. 

But you remember that Columbus had a very hard 
time again, after his friend Queen Isabella died. 
People were jealous of him, because he had been so 
wise and brave. 

He was thrown into prison in spite of all he had 
done for his country. And King Ferdinand did not 
keep his promises to him about the new lands. 

This unkind treatment nearly broke Columbus's 
heart. At last, he, who should have been honored 
by all Spain, died a poor and neglected man. 

After Columbus had died, his son Diego went to 
law against the king. He wished to be made the 
governor of the group of islands that his father had 
discovered. These islands are called the West 
Indies, because Columbus thought he- had sailed 
to the Indies or India. 



40 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

By this time people had begun to think that Co- 
lumbus had not sailed round the world to India, but 
had really found a new country. Amerigo Vespucci 
was one of the first to believe this. 

Finally the king made Don Diego governor of the 
West Indies. He sailed away with his wife and 
relatives across the ocean to Hispaniola. Here he 
lived for many years and became very rich by pearl 
fishing. 

When Don Diego went to the West Indies, there 
was a Spaniard in Hispaniola named Ponce de Leon. 

De Leon was one of those who had sailed to the 
new land with Columbus on his second voyage. He 
stayed in the West Indies for many years, and was 
made governor of a part of Hispaniola. 

But when Don Diego was given Hispaniola, he 
did not wish de Leon there. So de Leon took 
Porto Rico, another island, for his own. 

Here he became very rich, but he was so cruel to 
the poor Indians that the king took the island away 
from him. So he set about to find some new place, 
where he could govern as he pleased. 




THE SEARCH FOR FAIRYLAND 4I 

THE SEARCH FOR FAIRYLAND 

those olden times people believed 
many strange things — things we 
should call fairy stories. 

They believed that there was a 
way to turn iron and other metals 
into gold. Wise men were always 
trying to do this. 

They believed that a drink could 
be made which would keep people who 
tasted it alive forever. This drink was called the 
Elixir of Life. 

So, when de Leon lived in the West Indies, many 
wonderful stories were told and believed about the 
new lands. 

One of the strangest was the story of a wonder- 
ful spring or fountain surrounded by precious stones. 
This was a fairy fountain, from which flowed beauti- 
ful, sparkling water. The water was the Elixir of 
Life. 

Whoever could find the magic fountain and bathe 
in it would be made young and strong. Whoever 
should drink of the water would remain young for- 
ever. 

De Leon was an old man. He wished more than 
anything else for the two things which this fountain 



42 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



could give him. He wished to be made young, and 
then to remain young forever. 

So he made up his mind he would find the Foun- 
tain of Youth. He fitted out some ships w^ith his 
own money, and sailed away to fairyland to search 
for the Fountain of Everlasting Youth. For only 
in fairyland can such fountains be found. 

De Leon and his men 
saw many new islands, 
large and small. They 
landed upon each one, 
for they did not know 
where the wonderful 
fountain might be. 

They spent many 
days and tramped 
weary miles over 
the islands to 
make sure they 
should not miss 
what they were 
searching for. 

They found 
many springs. 
At every one de 
Leon stopped 
and bathed and 




THKV lUUNU MANY SPRINGS. 



THE SEARCH FOR FAIRYLAND 43 

drank of the water. Each time he did so, he 
thought to be changed from an old man to a youth. 

But nothing ever happened. So he knew he had 
found only common springs. 

Finally, one Sunday, they came in sight of the 
most beautiful shore they had yet seen. They sup- 
posed it to be another island, and named it Florida. 
This is a part of the Spanish name for Easter 
Sunday. 

It was early spring and warm, and the leaves were 
bright. The land was so covered with flowers that 
their fragrance was carried from the shore to the 
ship. 

It looked like fairyland indeed to the tired Span- 
iards. Surely here they must find the fairy fountain, 
surrounded by sparkling gems. 

But the waves were high, and they could not land 
at once. There were no wharves built, such as we 
have now. Only Indians lived there then. So they 
waited for quiet weather. 

When de Leon stepped on shore, he claimed the 
land for Spain, because that was his country. Then 
he searched and searched for the magic fountain, 
but it was not there. How discouraged he must 
have been 1 

At last the Spaniards gave up and sailed away. 
They followed the shore of Florida for many 



44 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

miles. They explored the coast and found new 
islands. 

Finally they sailed for home, with de Leon still 
an old man. How sad he must have felt to give up 
his dream of becoming young again ! 

The land which de Leon named Florida was not 
an island at all. It was a part of our own great con- 
tinent of North America, which Cabot had dis- 
covered. 

We still call it by the Spaniards' name. Every 
spring when the orange trees are in blossom, it looks 
as fair as it did to the Spaniards, when they first 
saw it. 

The king made de Leon governor of the new 
country he had found. Now Spain owned that part 
of North America, as well as a part of South 
America. 

Some years later, de Leon sailed for Florida again 
with many people. He hoped to make a settlement 
there. 

But the Indians attacked them. Many of his 
men were killed, and he himself was wounded by an 
arrow. He sailed back to Cuba and died of the 
wound. 




THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT 45 

THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT 

WE remember that, on one of Columbus's 
last voyages, he discovered a very 
large body of land. He thought that 
this was another island near India, 
but we know now that this land is 
larger than any island. It is called 
the continent of South America. 
Our land was named America after 
Amerigo Vespucci. The northern con- 
tinent is called North America ; the southern con- 
tinent is called South America. 

Between America and India is another large 
ocean, which we call the Pacific. So Columbus 
hadn't been near India at all, for the world is much 
larger than he thought 

The lands which Columbus had discovered be- 
longed to the King of Spain. That was the way 
they used to do things. If any one sailed away 
and found a new country, it belonged to his king 
or his queen. 

England claimed North America where the Cab- 
ots had explored. Spain claimed the part of North 
America which de Leon had called Florida. 

Besides, Spain owned the part of this great 
continent of South America that other Spaniards 



46 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

had explored. This was much larger than Spain 
itself. And all because Queen Isabella had helped 
Columbus to sail away across the Atlantic Ocean. 

Spain was glad of her new possessions. It made 
her feel very rich to own so much land. Besides, 
every one thought that gold and other precious 
things would be found in the new country. 

So it became the fashion for men in Spain to 
cross the Atlantic to explore and search for treas- 
ures. 

Every one who sailed back to Spain had some tale 
to tell of the wonderful things to be seen. Some 
told of golden temples. Some told of giants eight 
or nine feet tall. Others told of countries where 
" the sands sparkled with gems, and golden pebbles, 
as large as birds' eggs, were dragged in nets out 
of the rivers." 

Of course none of these things were exactly true. 
But the men who visited the New World were 
much excited about it. Perhaps it seemed to them 
as if they really had seen all the wonderful things 
they told about. 

How men must have longed to sail away from 
Spain across the ocean to see what they them- 
selves could find ! 

And so a little of the eastern coast of South 
America was explored within a few years after 



THE MAN WHO HID IiN THE BARREL 47 

Columbus had first crossed the Sea of Darkness. 
Many of the islands he found were settled by Span- 
iards. 

But no one had sailed around the end of the new 
continent, and no one had journeyed across it. So 
the Spaniards did not know what was on the west- 
ern coast, and none of them had ever seen the Pa- 
cific Ocean. 

Now the continent of North America and the 
continent of South America are joined together. 
A narrow neck of land called the Isthmus of 
Panama connects them. In the next story we shall 
read of a man who marched across this isthmus and 
saw the mighty ocean on the western side. 



THE MAN WHO HID IN THE BARREL 



S 




OME ten years after Columbus's last 
voyage, the Spaniards made the first 
settlement on the continent. This 
was on the Isthmus of Panama, which 
they called the Isthmus of Darien. 

One of the officers of this settle- 
ment, or colony, was a man named 
Vasco Nunez de Balboa. This is 
the way it happened. 



48 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Balboa had been living in Hispaniola, an island 
which Columbus found. He wished to join a ship 
that was sailing to the Isthmus of Darien. But he 
owed many debts in Hispaniola. 

Now men who owed money could not leave the 
island without permission. Balboa was afraid he 
could not get permission. Yet he wished very 
much to sail in this ship. 

So, before the ship started, he hid himself on 
board in a large barrel or cask. When the ship 
was far away from shore, Balboa jumped out of 
the cask. 

How surprised the men were ! They had thought 
that the barrel held provisions. Instead it held a 
man. 

" Who is this ? " the men cried. " Who is this 
that hid in our cask ? " Then Balboa told them 
about it. The captain was very angry at the trick 
played upon him. He did not wish to help Balboa 
break the law. 

He thought of landing Balboa on some barren 
island to punish him. But Balboa begged him not 
to do this. And the captain did not. It would 
have been too cruel. 

By and by their vessel was shipwrecked near the 
mainland. Balboa had been on that coast before. 
He remembered an Indian village where they might 



THE MAN WHO HID IN THE BARREL 



49 



get help. So 
he led the 
starving men 
through the 
forests to this 
village. 

It was there 
that the Span- 
iards made the 
first settlement 
on the conti- 
n e n t . And 
that is the story 
of how Balboa 
came to be 
with them. 

One day Bal- 
boa heard from 
some Indians that there lay a great ocean on the 
other side of the high mountains west of the settle- 
ment. When Balboa heard this, he was weighing 
some gold that the Indians had brought to him. 

A young Indian chief, who had given him the 
gold, said to him, " Is this yellow stuff what you 
leave your homes to find? I can tell you of a 
country where they eat and drink out of golden 
dishes, and gold is as cheap as iron is with you. 




' WHO IS THIS ? " THE MEN CRIED. 



50 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

But you must sail on a great ocean to find this 
country. And you must take many men with you." 

Balboa was a brave man. He felt as if he must 
go and find out about the new ocean and about that 
golden country. 

So he, with some other soldiers, set out to climb 
over those hiQ:h mountains west of the settlement. 
One of the soldiers was named Francisco Pizarro, 
and by and by you shall hear more of him. You 
shall hear how he really found the golden coun- 
try, of which Balboa had heard. 

It was not a pleasant journey that the Spaniards 
made. There were no paths and the way was long 
and rough. They suffered from heat and hunger. 
They fought their way through tribes of unfriendly 
Indians. 

These Indians had never seen guns. They 
thought that the Spaniards held thunder and light- 
nino: in their hands. 

Finally, after many days of toil and hardship, the 
Spaniards succeeded in reaching the top of the line 
of mountains. 

How slad Balboa must have been! Soon he 
would know whether he was to see a new ocean. 
How proud he would be if it were truly there ! 



THE SOUTH SEA 51 



THE SOUTH SEA 




HE Indians with Balboa told him 
that from the highest point of 
all he could see the new ocean. 
So Balboa made his soldiers 
halt. Then he climbed alone 
to the top. 

We suppose he did this that 
he might be the first white 
man to look upon the new ocean. 

He reached the top and looked down the other 
side. There, far below him, lay a great blue sea. 
It was shining in the sunlight and stretched as far 
as the eye could reach. North, south, and west it 
stretched, to where sky and water seemed to meet. 
Balboa threw himself upon his knees and gave 
thanks. He thanked God that he had been the 
man to find it. Then he called to his men to climb. 
After they, too, had seen, they all sang a hymn of 
praise. 

Balboa was glad and proud to be the first Span- 
iard to find that ocean. He marched down the 
mountain side to get to it. When he reached the 
shore, he waded straight into the sea. Taking out 
his sword, he waved it over the water. 

He named it the South Sea, but we call it the 



52 STORIES OP' AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

_.^'!^*»jv-j^,^> Pacific Ocean. 

And he said, 
" I take posses- 
sion of this sea 
in the name of 
the King of 
Spain," just as 
Columbus had 
said, when he 
stepped on 
-— the new is- 
lands he found 
on his first voyage. 
Now Balboa 
heard from the In- 
dians near the ocean 
more news of the 
golden country he 
was seeking. He 
heard stories of 
gold and precious 
stones and kings and wonderful palaces. 

Some one showed him a drawing of a queer 
looking animal which lived there. This animal 
was called a llama. The people used it for food, 
for. wool which grew on its back, and to carry 
burdens. 




HE WADED STRAIGHT INTO THE SEA. 



THE SOUTH SEA 53 

The llama was about as tall as a sheep. It had a 
long neck and a head like that of a camel. Its 
feet were made for climbing, and it could go up 
steep places which horses could not climb. 

Afterwards the Spaniards used the llamas to carry 
loads of gold from one place to another. 

Balboa returned to Darien another way. He 
visited many different tribes of Indians. He made 
nearly all of them his friends. From all he got 
riches. 

One gave him two hundred forty large pearls. 
Balboa was told of some near-by islands where there 
were plenty of them. One of these he called the 
Island of Pearls. 

Other chiefs gave him golden ornaments worth 
much money. So his journey was a successful one. 
He had discovered the South Sea. He had made 
the Indians friendly. And he had gathered much 
gold. 

Now Balboa's good fortune began to change. A 
new governor was sent to Darien. This governor 
was not like Balboa. 

His captains were sent out to explore, but they 
made enemies of Balboa's Indian friends. They stole 
the Indians' gold. Sometimes they burned their 
towns and killed the Indians. And, worst of all, 
they took hundreds back to Darien for slaves. 



54 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



Finally the governor sent Balboa to explore. 
Balboa thought he should like to go to the Pearl 
Islands. While he was gone, the governor heard 
untrue stories about him. These stories made the 
governor very angry. 

He sent for Balboa to come to him. While Balboa 
was on his way, he was met by some soldiers. The 
governor had sent them to arrest him. Their cap- 
tain was Francisco Pizarro. 

The soldiers took Balboa to the governor. He 
would not believe that Balboa was his friend. He 
wished to be rid of him. So, without giving him a 
fair trial, he had Balboa put to death. 



SAILING TO MEXICO 



W 




HILE the Spaniards explored the 

eastern coast of South America 

and made settlements in the West 

ies, Cabot sailed along the 

eastern coast of North America. 

ut no white man had stepped 

foot in a country which lies 

between North and South 

America. This country is 

called Mexico. 



SAILING TO MEXICO 55 

The Spaniards wished to own all the new lands 
they could. They wished to have many people 
belong to the King of Spain. And they wished to 
become rich quickly by finding gold and precious 
stones. 

The island of Cuba is not far from one part of 
this new country of Mexico. Cuba is the second 
island which Columbus found. 

A rich man named Cordova, who lived in Cuba, 
sailed away to search for slaves on other islands. 
His pilot was a man who had been, when a boy, 
with Columbus on one of his voyages. 

This pilot steered the ship so that it came to the 
mainland between North and South America. 

The Spaniards found so many strange and won- 
derful things in this new country that they were 
very much surprised. When they sailed home and 
told what they had seen, the governor of Cuba was 
surprised, too. 

The very next year he sent another man to 
Mexico to see what he could find. This man ex- 
plored more of the coast between North and South 
America. He was so pleased with the country he 
visited that he named it " New Spain," after his 
own land. 

He found the Indians quite different from those 
on the islands. They built houses of stone ; they 



56 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

wore more clothes and had more gold and silver. 
He traded for some of the gold and silver to take 
back to Cuba. 

When he returned, he found that the governor 
of Cuba was sending other ships to Mexico. The 
people who sailed in them were to learn more about 
the country and the people. And they were to try 
to teach the people about God. For none of the 
Indians had heard of Him. 

The governor of Cuba had a friend whose name 
was Hernando Cortez. He made Cortez the cap- 
tain of the fleet. Just before the ships were ready 
to start, the governor became very angry with 
Cortez. Then he wished to take the ships away 
from Cortez and make some one else captain. But 
Cortez heard about it, and this is what he did. 

He did not wait to get all his provisions or guns 
or powder, but he set sail one night without telling 
the governor. 

When he landed on the mainland, he found a 
Spaniard there. The Spaniard had been ship- 
wrecked on the coast some years before. He could 
not get back to his home. 

His companions had been killed by the Indians. 
But the Indians had allowed him to live with them. 

How glad this Spaniard must have been to see 
his own countrvmen once more ! 



THE FIRST TREASURES 57 

He went with Cortez to tell him what the Indians 
said, for of course he had learned to speak as 
they did. 

Then Cortez sailed away along the coast toward 
the north and landed again. There he was met 
by some Indians who had rich presents for him. 

They had heard of Cortez from the Indians where 
he first landed. So they were all ready to greet 
him. They thought if they gave him presents he 
would not harm them. 



B 



THE FIRST TREASURES 

Y this time word had been taken to 
the King of Mexico about the strange 
white men who were in 
his country. The name 
of this king was Monte- 
zuma, and he lived in the 
City of Mexico. 

Along all the roads in 
his kingdom swift runners were always waiting. 
One runner would take a messaore and run as 
fast as he could to the next man. He would take 
it and run with it to the next. Each runner 




58 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

could go very fast, for he did not have, to run 
very far. 

The Spaniards were still near the coast. The 
City of Mexico, where Montezuma lived, was about 
two hundred miles away. But it did not take him 
long to hear of the Spaniards. 

Cortez said to the Indians he met, " I have come 
from a great king across the ocean. 1 wish to see 
Montezuma. My king wishes to send a greeting 
to the Mexican king." 

This speech frightened Montezuma. It fright- 
ened him to have such strange white people in his 
country. He did not know wliat they might do. 
Maybe they would try to take his kingdom away 
from him. 

So he sent messengers to Cortez, saying that he 
must not march to the City of Mexico. 

These messengers took to Cortez shields and 
helmets made partly of gold. They gave him 
bracelets and sandals of gold, statues of birds and 
animals made of gold, and mantles of beautiful 
feather work. Best of all were two round plates of 
gold and silver, as large as carriage wheels. 

Cortez was delighted with these treasures. He 
shared them with his men and put one fifth away 
for the King of Spain. 

The Indians had never seen horses nor heard 



THE FIRST TREASURES 



59 



guns. So Cortez had his horsemen ride up and 
down. At first the Indians thought the man and 
the horse were one animal. Then Cortez had his 
cannon fired. The Indians were astonished and 
frightened at the noise. 




CORTEZ HAD HIS HORSEMEN RIDE UP AND DOWN. 



Cortez thought that the messengers would be 
afraid of him and would tell Montezuma how wonder- 
ful the white men were. 

He saw some Indians busy with pencils. He 
found they were making pictures of his men and 
ships and cannon to send to Montezuma. The 



6o 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



Mexicans had a way of writing with pictures, not 
with words. 

Of course so much gold and silver made Cortez 
wish all the more to go to the City of Mexico. He 
decided not to mind Montezuma, but to go in spite 
of what he had said. 

So he and his men marched northward, while his 
ships followed along the coast. 



THE SINKING OF THE SHIPS 



E should remember that the governor of 
Cuba had become an enemy of Cortez. 
When Cortez thought of this, it troubled 
him. He did not know what the gov- 
ernor would tell the King of Spain about 
him. 

Maybe the governor would persuade 
the king to send to Cortez and bid him 
leave Mexico. Cortez did not wish 
to do that. So he took all the presents w^hich 
Montezuma had given him and sent them to King 
Charles of Spain. 

This King Charles was Queen Isabella's grand- 
son. Cortez also WTote the king a letter, tell- 







THE SINKING OF THE SHIPS 6l 

ing about the rich country he had found. He 
hoped this would make King Charles friendly 
toward him. 

The Indians whom Cortez met on his march 
were kind to him. These Indians belonged to 
Montezuma's kingdom. They were called Mexi- 
cans, or Aztecs. 

All the Aztecs worshiped different gods, not 
one God as we do. There was a god of fire, a god 
of water, a god of wind, a god of grain, and many 
others. The god of war they worshiped most of 
all. 

They built temples and set up statues or idols. 
They covered these idols with gold and precious 
stones. 

On the altars of the temples they kept fires always 
burning. These fires were not allowed to go out. 
On the darkest nights they made the cities light. 

Some of the Aztecs believed that Cortez and his 
men were gods. This was very lucky for Cortez. 

There was an old Aztec storv about the orod 
of the air. Hundreds of years before, some higher 
god had become angry with him. So the god of 
the air had to go far, far away into another place. 

But when he was getting into his magic canoe, 
he said, " I will come back sometime. Either I 
or my children will come back to Mexico." 



62 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



And so, when they saw the Spaniards, some of 
the Aztecs believed that this old story had come 
true. Of course those who believed it were friendly 

to Cortez and helped him 
and his men. 

The Spaniards found that 
Montezuma had so manv 




< imillW^iife • 



ivv i 




ALT, THE SHIPS EXCEPT ONE 
WERE SUNK. 



soldiers that it would be hard to conquer him. 
They began to be afraid they would be killed. 

Some of them longed to sail back to Cuba. Cor- 
tez was not willing to do this. He did not wish to 
meet his enemy, the governor of Cuba, and he did 
wish to stay in Mexico and conquer the country. 



THE SINKING OF THE SHIPS 



63 



So he made up his mind to have his ships sunk, 
and then there would be no way for his men to go 
home. This was a daring thing to do, for, after 
that, whatever happened, he and his men would be 
obliged to stay in Mexico. Even if Montezuma 
should conquer them, they could not get away. 

So, when all the ships except one were sunk, he 
and his men really began their march inland 
toward Montezuma and his City of Mexico. 

The Spaniards and the friendly Indians had built 
a town so that Cortez could have some place of his 
own in that strange country. 

This town was named Vera Cruz. Vera Cruz 
means the " true cross." Some of the Spaniards 
were left at Vera Cruz to guard it while Cortez 
was away. 




64 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

WONDERFUL SIGHTS 
^HIS march of Cortez and his men through 



T 




vf ■ Mexico was a very hard one. At first 
^^ ^ the country was level. Soon they 

^^ j^S;^^ began to climb the mountains. Cold 
winds blew. 

Many of the Indians with Cortez 
died. They were used to a warmer 
climate in the valleys. Some of the 
horses died, too. Cortez could not 
well spare the horses. He needed 
them because the Mexicans were afraid of them. 

The Spaniards saw many things that were new 
to them — strange birds and trees and flowers. At 
one place they saw a volcano. That is a mountain 
which sometimes has smoke and fire pouring out of 
its top. 

All along the march the Spaniards passed Aztec 
villages and cities. They found the people paid 
taxes to the king, of things which they made. 

Cotton dresses, robes of feather work, vases, 
plates and bracelets of gold, reams of paper, and 
also grains and wild animals were paid to the king. 
In the large cities, storehouses were built to hold 
these things. If a man did not pay his taxes, he 
was sold for a slave. 



WONDERFUL SIGHTS 65 

There were courts to settle disputes. The 
judges were appointed by the king. 

The people were very honest. They had no fear 
of thieves. The houses had no bolts nor locks. If 
a person stole, he was sold for a slave or put to 
death. 

Cortez had heard of a country called Tlascala, 
which was always at war with Montezuma. He 
thought to himself, " If I can gain the Tlascalans 
for my friends, we can all fight Montezuma together. 
That will give me many more men." 

So he turned his march toward Tlascala. When 
he reached the country, he found a wonderful thing. 
A stone wall nine feet high and as wide as a large 
room had been built by the Tlascalans. This wall 
ran around the level part of their country to the 
mountains. It was to protect their country from 
the Aztecs. 

Every Aztec king had wanted Tlascala for part 
of his kingdom. Great armies were sent out to 
capture it. It was surrounded by enemies all the 
time. 

So the Tlascalans had to live on what grew in 
their own country. They had no cotton, nor any 
salt. But they did not care, for they had their 
country safe from the Aztecs. 

At first they would not make friends with Cortez. 



66 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

But he fought with them until he had conquered 
them. Then they said to him, "We promise to be 
your friends and to help you fight Montezuma." 

We shall see how well they kept their promise. 

After resting with the Tlascalans some days, Cor- 
tez went on his way toward the City of Mexico. 
Many of his new friends marched with him. 



THE CITY OF MEXICO 



HE Tlascalans and the Spaniards 
were many days in reaching the 



T 

j^ City of Mexico. On their way 



iW''mk. they were set upon by the 




idM'^^'P^'^ Aztecs. But they won all 
f^^ the battles. 



They marched through 
fields of grain, and climbed 
over high mountains. They saw a very high moun- 
tain covered with snow. It was a volcano. The 
Indians said, "No man can climb that and live." 

Cortez sent some of his men to do so. This 
was to show how^ brave the Spaniards were. 

They climbed almost to the top. Then smoke, 
sparks, and cinders came out from the crater and 



THE CITY OF MEXICO 6^ 

nearly choked them. So they went back. But they 
took some icicles with them, to show that they had 
been near the top. 

At last the Spaniards came in sight of the City 
of Mexico. It was situated in a valley. Many 
other cities were in the same valley. 

Two large lakes were near the center of it. One 
was salt water and one fresh water. These lakes 
were divided by a water gate. 

The City of Mexico was built in the salt water 
lake. Great roads of stone were made right through 
the lake from the shore to the capital. Many of the 
streets of the capital were canals, so canoes could 
float through the city. 

In the lakes were floating islands. These were 
huge rafts covered with earth. On these grew 
flowers and vegetables. Some of them looked like 
fairy gardens floating upon the water. 

The tops of many of the houses were covered with 
earth, so that flowers could grow there. In the 
gardens grew rriany things that we know. Bananas, 
vanilla for flavoring, cacao, from which we make 
chocolate, tobacco, and Indian corn were plentiful. 

A wonderful tree grew there. Its name is the 
aloe tree. From its leaves the Aztecs made paper 
and a thatch for their roofs. A drink came from 
its juice. Its roots when cooked were good to eat. 



68 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



Thread, from which cloth was made, came from 
its fibers. Pins and needles came from the thorns 
on the end of the leaves. 

Near the middle of the City of Mexico was a great 
open space. This was the market place. There 
were no stores in 
the city, but people 
brought theirgoods 
to the market place. 
Fairs were held 
there the last day 
in every week. 

For money they 
used gold dust in 
quills, pieces of tin, 
or bags of cacao. 

Every kind of 
thing was sold in the market place. Vases, plates, fish 
and animals made of gold, cloth made of cotton and 
of rabbits' hair, tools, provisions, and flowers were sold. 

Most beautiful of all was the feather work. 
This was made by pasting feathers on fine cotton 
cloth. They were pasted so closely together that 
the cloth did not show at all. 

Beautiful robes of different colors were made of 
feathers. No one could do this work so well as the 
Aztecs. 




AZTEC MAKING A FEATHER ROBE. 



THE CITY OF MEXICO 69 

All these things the Spaniards saw when they 
came to the City of Mexico. It seemed a wonderful 
place to them. 

When Montezuma heard that Cortez was near, 
he sent messengers to invite him into the city. He 
thought it best to seem friendly toward him. 

Then the Spaniards marched across the lake on 
one of the wonderful stone roads or causeways. 
Montezuma and many of his nobles met them and 
gave them presents of gold. 

When Aztecs met each other, they did not shake 
hands as we do. Each man would touch the earth 
with his right hand and then raise it to his head. 

Cortez put around Montezuma's neck a chain 
made of pieces of glass. The Mexicans did not 
make glass, so it seemed valuable to them. Then 
Montezuma took the Spaniards into his city. 




70 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



AZTEC CHILDREN AT SCHOOL 




NE of the first things the Spaniards 
did in the city was to visit the great 
temple. This was a high tower 
made of stones. Near the temple 
lived hundreds of priests. It was 
their duty to keep the fires on the 
altars always burning. 

The priests were also the teachers. 

They had schools for girls and 

schools for boys. 

The children learned to sing, to read and write 

picture writing, and to do arithmetic. The girls 

learned to weave cloth and to make feather work. 

The boys were taught to be priests and soldiers. 

Many history stories of the country were made 
into hymns. 

The picture writing was really like drawing. It 
was done on cotton clotli, on nicely dressed skins, 
or on a kind of paper made from the aloe. No one 
knows just how to read this writing now. 

Sometimes the writing was rolled up when no 
one was using it. Sometimes it was folded like a 
screen. Then it had covers of wood. This kind 
of book was more convenient. 

The arithmetic the Aztec girls and boys studied 



AZTEC CHILDREN AT SCHOOL 



71 



was not like ours. They did not use figures as 
we do. The first nineteen numbers they wrote with 
dots. Six was six dots, twelve was twelve dots, and 
so on. 

Number 20 was a picture of a flag. Two flags 




AZIEC PICTURE WRITING. 



meant 40. Three flags meant 60. A plume was 
400. A purse was 8,000. For a fraction they 
would draw only a part of the picture. For ^ of 20 
they would draw one half of a flag. 
They did not learn : 

7 days = I week 
4 weeks = i month 
12 months = i year 



72 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



Instead, they learned : 

5 days = i week 
4 weeks = i month 
1 8 months = i year 

At the end of their last month there were five 
extra days that did not belong to any month. These 
made 365 days just like our own year. 



THE EMPEROR MONTEZUMA 

HEN the Spaniards had been in the 
City of Mexico a -week, they began to 
feel very much afraid. This was because 
there were so few of them and so many 
Aztecs. 

Montezuma was kind, but they did not 
know when he might set his soldiers 
against them. 

They were no better off than before 
they had entered the city. They had 
not conquered Montezuma, and at any 
moment he might try to kill them. They could not 
run away, for their ships were sunk. 

At last Cortez thought of a plan to help them. 
It was to capture Montezuma and keep him a pris- 
oner. Then the Mexicans would not harm the 




THE EMPEROR MONTEZUMA 73 

Spaniards, because they would be afraid of harm- 
ing their king. 

So the Spaniards took Montezuma to the palace 
where they lodged and made him a prisoner. 
Cortez then persuaded Montezuma to say that 
he and his land should belong to the King of 
Spain. 

After this was done, the Spaniards went through 
the temples and pulled down all the idols. 

Montezuma was a prisoner all through the win- 
ter. He governed his people, but he governed them 
as Cortez told him. 

In the spring Cortez heard that many ships had 
come to Vera Cruz. He did not know whether they 
were sent by the governor of Cuba. He was afraid 
the men had come to capture him. He could not 
tell how many men would be against him. 

Here was a new enemy even worse than the 
Aztecs. His own countrymen would be harder 
to beat, for they would have guns and weapons 
like his own. 

But at least he must go to the coast and see 
what could be done. 

He took a few of his comrades and marched 
toward Vera Cruz. He found the men were sent 
by the governor of Cuba to fight him. They did 
fight, but he won the battle and made the soldiers 



74 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

his friends. So his enemy really gave him more 
men to help him. 

Then Cortez started back to the City of Mexico. 
When he reached there, he found that the Aztecs 
and his soldiers were fighting together. 

Cortez thought that Montezuma could make the 
Aztecs stop. So he took Montezuma to the top of 
a high tower and had him make a speech to the 
people. 

At first they listened. They were glad to hear 
their king's voice. Then they grew angry with him, 
because he told them not to fight against the Span- 
iards. They began to shoot arrows and throw 
stones. 

Montezuma was hit. He was wounded so badly 
that in a few days he di^d. How sad he must have 
felt to have his own people turn against him ! 

Then the new Mexican king told Cortez that the 
Aztecs intended to fight until they killed all the 
Spaniards. So Cortez made up his mind to leave 
the city if he could. 

He could not march over the causeways, for the 
Mexicans were guarding them. • One night he had 
a bridge built of boats. The Spaniards started 
to march over that, but the Aztecs discovered 
them. 

Then there was a terrible battle, and many of 



THE EMPEROR MONTEZUMA 



75 



tlie Spaniards were killed. 
They lost their cannon, and 
all their gold and treasures. 
Those who were not 
killed marched toward Tlas- 
cala. The Aztecs followed 
them, and they had to fight 
all the way. Cortez won- 
dered whether the Tlas- 
calans would be friendly 
now that he had 
been beaten by 
the Aztecs. 








MONTEZUMA MAKES A SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE. 

If they should turn against him, all would be lost. 
He and his soldiers would surely be killed. So he 
was anxious to find the Tlascalans still his friends. 




76 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

THE CAPTURE OF MEXICO 

WHEN the Spaniards reached Tlascala, 
they were glad to find the Tlascalans 
(^^ as friendly as ever. Then they made 

1^1 "P their minds to go back and conquer 

fflnj the Aztecs. 

ji^»ii«__ So Cortez got together all the 

men that he could and marched 
again toward the City of Mexico. 
Thousands of the Tlascalans 
marched with him to fight for him. 

Cortez had boats built in Tlascala, so that he 
could attack the City of Mexico from the lake. 

These boats were carried in pieces from Tlascala 
to the lake, and then put together. The Tlascalans 
did this. The pieces had to be carried many miles 
through the enemy's country. It was a wonderful 
thing to do, because the Aztecs attacked them all 
the way. 

The Aztecs tore up places in the great stone 
causeways that led across the lake to their city. 
Then their soldiers guarded the causeways. 

When the Spaniards came to the broken places, 
they filled them in and kept on fighting. So they 
pushed their way slowly toward the City of Mexico, 
fighting all the time. 



THE CAPTURE OF MEXICO 



17 



After nearly three months of struggle, the Span- 
iards again stood in the center of the city. 

The Aztec capital did not look so splendid as 
when they first saw it. Many beautiful buildings 
had been destroyed by their cannon. Hundreds of 
poor Aztecs had been killed in the terrible battles. 

Hundreds had died of 
hunger and thirst. The 
city was built in a salt lake. 
The drinking water for the 
people came from a mountain 
near the shore of the lake. 
It was brought to the city in 
pipes laid along a causeway. 

Cortez had the pipes de- 
stroyed. Then those in the 
city had nothing but salt 
water to drink. Of course 
that is not good to drink. 

It was a pity to spoil so 
many wonderful things that 
the Aztecs had made. The 
City of Mexico was after- 
wards built up again by 
the Aztecs and the Span- 
iards. But it was never so 
beautiful as at first. 




A TLASCALAN WARRIOR, 



yS STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

The place where Montezuma's lovely gardens 
had blossomed became dry earth. The thick forests 
were cut down by the Spaniards. They did not 
seem to care for these things. They cared most of 
all for gold. 

Cortez did not become very rich. Other people 
got the treasures as well as himself. 

King Charles was not always grateful to Cortez. 
He forgot how well Cortez had served him. He 
became so unfriendly that at one time he forbade 
Cortez to come to court. 

So Cortez lived many years in Mexico. But he 
was not content to stay in one place. He explored 
the countries south of Mexico and found other in- 
teresting people. 

He sent parties to find the South Sea, of which 
he had heard from the Indians. This was the 
same ocean that Balboa had discovered. 

Because of Cortez, Mexico, or New Spain, as it 
was called, belonged to Spain. It was a large and 
rich country, and Spain owned it for many years. 



ANOTHER GREAT SAILOR 



79 



ANOTHER GREAT SAILOR 



THE very same year that Cortez sailed 
from Cuba to Mexico, another brave 
man started out from Spain on 
a long voyage. 

This man was Ferdinand 
Magellan. He was a Portuguese. 
Portugal, we remember, was the 
country where Columbus lived 
for some years. 

People were still searching 
for a short way to sail to India 
across the Atlantic Ocean. They 
had sailed along the shore of 
North America, and found no 
way to cross the continent. 

They had sailed along the shore of Mexico, and 
found no way there. They had sailed along a part 
of the eastern coast of South America. But they 
found no way there. 

Ferdinand Magellan thought that perhaps they 
had not sailed far enough south to find the way. 
He wished to try in that direction. So he went to 
the King of Portugal for ships and men. But the 
king would not help him. 

King Manuel of Portugal already had one way to 




80 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

sail to India. This way had been found by a man 
named Vasco da Gama. 

Da Gama did not sail across the Atlantic Ocean, 
but sailed around the end of the continent of Africa. 
Then, by steering north and east, he reached the land 
of spices. So the King of Portugal did not care for 
another route. 

Then Magellan went to King Charles of Spain, 
and this king gave him ships and sailors. So, while 
Cortez was conquering Mexico, Magellan searched 
for a short route to India. Both men were serving 
King Charles of Spain. 

Magellan set out from Spain a few months after 
Cortez left Cuba. He had to cross the Atlantic 
Ocean before he came to South America. 

Many ships had safely crossed the sea since 
Columbus's first voyage. And many had started 
out and never reached the other shore. It was a 
dangerous undertaking in such small ships. 

Magellan had five vessels, and he and his men 
searched the coast for a passage to the South 
Sea. This was the ocean which Balboa had dis- 
covered. 

Magellan knew that the South Sea was on the 
western side of South America. 

But what was on the other side of the South Sea ? 
Perhaps beyond it lay the Spice Lands. If he could 



ANOTHER GREAT SAILOR 8l 

only discover a way to get into that sea, he could 
sail across it and find out. 

For many months Magellan searched the shore 
for a passage from one ocean into the other, going 
always southward. 

Each time he came to the mouth of a great river, 
he sailed his ships up the stream. Perhaps one of 
these rivers might lead him across the continent. 

But he always had to turn his ships about and 
sail back to the Atlantic Ocean. Many times he 
must have been disappointed. The continent was 
always in his path. 

Finally some of his men grew so discouraged that 
they banded together against Magellan. They took 
some of his ships and tried to sail home to Spain. 

But Magellan could not have this. He needed 
all his ships and his men to help him. So he 
captured those vessels and made the bad sailors 
prisoners. Then he sailed on southward, deter- 
mined to find a passage. 




82 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



THE DISCOVERY OF THE PASSAGE 




HILE Magellan was sailing south, the 
weather grew colder and colder. For 
the southern part of our earth is as 
cold as the northern part. Winter 
came on, and this made it very un- 
comfortable for the men. 
But if one tries hard enough to do a thing, some- 
time he will succeed. And Magellan was like Co- 
lumbus. No matter how hard his voyage was, he 
never thought of giving up. 

So at last he succeeded. He sailed so far south 
that he came to the end of South America. There 
he found what seemed to be a passage between 
South America and some islands. 

The story is told that one night Magellan was 
standing on the deck of his little ship. As his 
vessel sailed along, he was watching the dark line of 
the shore. He was wondering if he should ever 
find a way through it. Suddenly the shore seemed 
to open and there the passage lay before him. 

He sent two of his ships in to see if it was really 
a passage. A great storm came up. The ships 
were absent for several days. Magellan thought 
that they were lost. 



THE DISCOVERY OF THE PASSAGE 



83 



But at last they came sailing back with all their 
flags flying at their masts. They were sure that 
this water would lead them into the South Sea. 

Then Magellan set sail with all his ships to find 
his way through the passage. It took him more 
than a month. There were so many openings 
among the islands that he could 
not tell which to take. 

The people in this part of 
the world were not like the 
Indians on Columbus's islands. 
They were not like the Aztecs. 
They were so tall that they were 
almost giants. 

They used fires at night for 
signals. The Spaniards saw so 
many of these fires that they 
called the country Tierra del 
Fuego, that is, " Land of Fire." 

The men on the 
largest ship did not 
wish to sail through 
the opening. They 
wished to return to 
Spain. So one night 
they deserted Magel- 
lan. Most of the pro- 




THEY USED FIRES AT NIGHT FOR 
SIGNALS. 



84 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



visions were on this vessel, and it left Magellan 
without much food. 

At last, after many days, Magellan found the 
passage growing very wide. Soon he was out on a 
big, blue ocean again, and he knew that he had 
found the way ! 

He was so glad that he wept. Then the guns 
were fired, for the sailors were glad, too. 

We call a passage between two pieces of land a 
strait. We call this passage the Strait of Magellan, 
after the one who discovered it. This is a good 
way to honor the man who tried until he succeeded. 

So the way to the South Sea was found at last. 
It was not between North and South America, but 
around the end of the southern continent. 

Still Magellan was not satisfied. He wished to 
know whether India was on the other side of this 
big, blue ocean. So he steered his ships north 
again and west, to see if he could find India. 





SHIPS THAT SAILED AROUND THE WORLD 85 

THE SHIPS THAT SAILED AROUND THE 
WORLD 

HEN Magellan sailed through his 
strait, he steered north. This was 
to find a warmer climate. Then 
he turned west. 
|\ His vessels were not well filled 

with provisions, and he was not 
well prepared to cross a wide 
ocean. He hoped to find land 
soon, where he could get fresh water and food. 

But day after day and day after day he sailed 
without seeing land. The water in his casks was 
so stale the sailors could scarcely use it. The 
biscuits had become worm-eaten. 

Then at last he found an island. How glad 
every one was ! But on the island there was noth- 
ing to eat nor to drink. No one lived there. So the 
disappointed men turned the ships away and sailed 
on. 

They were almost starved. They caught and 
ate rats that lived in the ships. They tore the 
thick hide from the masts and ate that. 

And all this time the ships sailed on over that 
big, blue sea. For nearly four months they sailed 
on and on. 



86 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

They had good weather all the time. Because 
there were no storms, Magellan named this ocean 
the Pacific. Pacific means " peaceful," and the 
ocean has been called by this name ever since. 

Perhaps the sailors did not care about their won- 
derful voyage. They were starving. They had 
come to a part of our world where it is very 
hot. The fierce sun beat down upon them. Many 
fell sick and died. And all this time the ships 
sailed on and on. 

How the sailors must have watched and watched 
for land ! At last they came to an island where 
people lived. Here they found fruit and other 
things to eat. Then they sailed away and soon 
came to more lands. 

Magellan named these the Philippine Islands in 
honor of Philip, King Charles's son. Here Magel- 
lan found many natives. They gave him oranges, 
cocoanuts, spices, and meat. 

There was a quarrel between the Spaniards and 
some of the natives, and poor Magellan himself 
was killed. 

Then two new leaders were chosen and the ships 
started away. Finally they reached India, the land 
of Magellan's dreams, the land Columbus wished so 
much to find. 

By that time, one ship alone was fit to sail the 



SHIPS THAT SAILED AROUND THE WORLD 



87 



sea. This was the Victoria. The crew loaded 
her with spices and then started for home. 

They steered south of Africa. That was the 
route which the Portuguese, Vasco da Gania, had 
found. After a terrible voyage, they reached Spain 
at last. 

So the little Victoria had sailed around the world. 
We can guess how her crew must have fired their 
guns when she came into port at last ! Think of 
the eager people running to the wharf to see the 
wonderful men who had really sailed around the 
world. 

Then remember that brave Magellan lay dead in 
a far-away land, and could not hear the bells ring in 
his honor. 




THE ROUTE OF MAGELLAN'S SHIP "VICTORIA." 




STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

PIZARRO AND ALMAGRO 

'E know that the first settlement made in 
South America was on the eastern shore 
of the Isthmus of -Darien. We know 
how Balboa crossed the Isthmus and dis- 
covered the Pacific Ocean. 

After a few years, a new governor made 
a new colony, called Panama, on the western side of 
the Isthmus. Then ships could be built there to sail 
up and down the western coast of South America. 

The soldiers who went in the ships often landed 
and explored the country inland. They made their 
way across forests and mountains and among war- 
like tribes of Indians. 

Many Spaniards ^vere killed. Others found their 
way back, after visiting new countries. They were 
all hunting for gold. And there was another reason 
that made some of them journey through the wilds. 
It was to tell the Indians about God. 

Finally the Spaniards explored so far toward the 
north that they came to some of the men who had 
been with Cortez in Mexico. These men had been 
sent toward the south to explore. 

When they had met the soldiers from Panama, 
they had proved that there was no passage for ships 
between North and South America. 



PIZARRO AND ALMAGRO 89 

All this time many strange stories were being told 
in the new colony of Panama. These were about a 
wonderful country full of gold, that was toward the 
south. 

At last two men became much interested in the 
stories of this golden land. They decided that 
they would go to see if they were true. 

One of these men was Francisco Pizarro. He 
had been with Balboa when Balboa discovered the 
South Sea. Pizarro had been a poor boy who 
tended swine. He could not read nor write. The 
other man was Diego de Almagro. Both men had 
lived in Spain and had gone to South America 
in the hope of finding adventures and gold. 

Neither had money enough to buy ships 'or to 
hire men to go in search of Peru. It was hard to 
get any one to lend them money. People did not 
quite believe there was such a place as Peru. 

At last a priest got from a rich man enough 
money for Pizarro to start with one ship. Alma- 
gro stayed behind to get more money and more 
men. 

Pizarro followed the coast of South America for 
many miles. He did not know how far he must go 
before reaching the Golden Country. It was the 
time of year when there are many storms near that 
coast. Pizarro's ship was nearly wrecked. 



90 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

He and his men landed at different places along 
the shore and went inland searching for Peru. 

They found vast forests where the trees and 
vines were so thick that they could hardly push 
their way along. 

They found great swamps and were sometimes 
lost in them. Many of the soldiers caught a fever 
in the swamps and died there. 

They saw many strange animals, bright-colored 
birds, and snakes as large as the trunks of trees. 
But they found not a trace of the Golden Land 
of Peru. 

Then Pizarro had to send his ship back to Panama 
for supplies, food, and ammunition. While it was 
gone, he and his men nearly starved to death. 

They had nothing left them to eat. They picked 
up shellfish on the shore. They gathered berries 
that grew wild in the woods. Sometimes the berries 
poisoned the men who ate them. 

Once they came to a small Indian village where 
they found a little food. Some of the Indians wore 
about their necks chains and beads of gold. 

The gold was better than food to the Spaniards, 
for it was what they had come to seek. So they took 
courage. By and by their ship came back to them 
loaded with food. Pizarro and his men went on 
board and sailed still farther south. 



PIZARRO AND ALMAGRO 



91 




■jftWfiiiiiwiiin. 'mmmi'—»»»i » 



But their vessel had become so battered by 
storms that she could not stand the rough seas 
much longer. So Pizarro decided to go north near 
Panama and try to get a better ship and more men 
to help him. 

He carried with him all the golden trinkets which 
his men had taken from the Indians. He thought 
to himself, " If I show my gold to the governor 
and the people, they 
will begin to believe 
in the Golden 
Country. 

" Some one will 
surely lend me more 
money, and more 
men will wish to go 
with me to search 
for Peru." 

He and Almagro 
had decided that 
they would never 
give up. They 
would search until 
they found the land 
of their desires, the 
Golden Country of 
Peru. 




THEY PICKED UP SHELLFISH ON 
THE SHORE. 




92 STORIES OF AMERICAxN DISCOVERERS 

PIZARRO'S SECOND ADVENTURE 

FINALLY Pizarro and Almagro borrowed 
enough money to buy more ships and 
supplies. Then they again set sail for 
their Golden Land. 

This time they went even farther 
south, and nearly the same things hap- 
pened to them as before. They found 
more gold. They had to fight against 
hunger and thirst, and against the 
Indians, whose gold they took away. 

Always on their voyage they saw near the shore 
of the continent, lines or ranges of very high moun- 
tains. These were higher than any they had ever 
seen before They were so high that their tops 
were always covered with snow. They were so 
high that often clouds hid a part of them. 

But when the clouds blew away, there were still 
the mountains, their white tops shining in the sun. 
They stood like sentinels, keeping guard over the 
coast. The Spaniards could not sail away from 
them. These were the Andes mountains. 

At last the Spaniards came to Tumbez, a large 
Indian village on the coast. Here they were kind 
to the people, so the people did not fight against 
them. 



PIZARRO'S SECOND ADVENTURE 



93 



They saw many wonderful things. They saw the 
llamas or Peruvian sheep, of which Balboa had been 
shown a drawing. They saw men with huge orna- 
ments of gold attached to their ears. They saw a 
temple, the walls of which were covered with silver 
and gold. 

The Indians had never seen 
white men. They could not 
understand where they came 
from, nor why they came. Pi- 
zarro said to them, "We have 
come to teach you about our 
God, of whom you have never 
heard." 

The Indians had never seen 
horses. They had never heard 
guns. When these were fired, 
they thought some one was 
shouting. 

The Spaniards had on 
board the ship some fowls. 
The Indians heard the rooster 
crow, and they asked what he was saying. 

There was a negro with Pizarro. The Indians 
could not believe his face was really so dark. They 
thought it was painted, and they tried to rub off 
the color. 




HUGE ORNAMENTS OF GOLD 
ATTACHED TO THEIR EARS. 



94 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

The Spaniards learned that all the country 
belonged to a powerful Indian king, called an Inca, 
They began to think that so few of them could never 
go to war and conquer the Inca, for the Inca had 
thousands and thousands of soldiers. 

And if they did not conquer him and his people, 
how could they get the gold that was in his country? 

They found that the Indians worshiped the sun. 
It was their god. They built temples where the 
priests prayed to it. They believed that all the 
Incas were the Children of the Sun. 

The Inca owned all the country. He owned all 
the gold mines. The people did not use the gold for 
money. It was used to make the palaces and the 
temples beautiful. 

Finally the Spaniards learned a great deal about 
the Inca and his country and his large armies. 
Then they knew that they must sail back to Panama 
to get more ships and men before they went inland 
to conquer the Indians. 

So they did; and when they reached Panama, 
Pizarro was sent across the Atlantic Ocean. He 
was to ask the King of Spain to give them more 
money and more men to go back and conquer Peru. 

The king took the golden ornaments that Pi- 
zarro had brought him for a present. He was well 
pleased with them. He liked the thought of getting 



PIZARRO'S SECOND ADVENTURE 95 

more gold. So he agreed to help Pizarro and 
Almagro, if he should be given one fifth of all the 
treasures that they found in Peru. 

He made Pizarro governor of the new country. 
He sent with him some men who were to weigh all 
the gold and see that the king received his share. 

Pizarro had much trouble in getting men enough 
to go back with him. He needed a large army to 
conquer the Inca. 

Hernando Cortez, who was then in Spain, helped 
him. Cortez believed what Pizarro told him about 
the Golden Country, because he himself had seen 
such wonderful things in Mexico. 

But most of the people did not believe the stories. 
Besides, they had heard what hard times Pizarro's 
men had had on his other voyages. And they were 
afraid they should never get back home, if they went 
to see if the stories were true. 

Pizarro had four brothers, whom he took with 
him. He made one of them captain of the fleet of 
ships that the king helped him to buy. 

As soon as he could, he sailed back to the Isthmus 
of Darien. He took his supplies and his soldiers 
across it, and made ready to go on his last adven- 
ture to seek for Peru. 




96 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

THE PERUVIANS 

WHILE Pizarro and Almagro were sailing 
south, I must tell you more about 
the Indians who lived in the Golden 
Country. 

That country, we remember, was 

called Peru by the Spaniards. The 

people who lived there were called 

'^ ' Peruvians. They were Indians, but 

they were not like the natives that Columbus found, 

when he landed on his new islands. They were 

more like the Aztecs. 

The Peruvians had lived in South America for 
many, many years before the Spaniards sailed across 
the sea. Nobody knows how long they had been 
there, nor where they came from. 

We have read that they were governed by a king, 
or Inca, as they called him. The Peruvians be- 
lieved that the very first Inca and his wife came 
from the sun. So they called the Incas, Children 
of the Sun. That was why they worshiped the sun. 
They thought it gave them their first Inca. 

When an Inca died, one of his sons would be- 
come the Inca. So the boy who was to be Inca in 
his father's place was trained very carefully. 

He was taught how to be a good soldier, and how 




THE INCA WAS CARRIED IN A COVERED CHAIR. 



to be a priest. He was taught all the laws, and 
many wise things about the people, and how to 
govern them. If he would not learn these things, 
then he could not be the next Inca. Some brother 
of his must be taught instead. 

Peru was divided into four parts. Each part 

97 



98 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

was governed by a relative of the Inca. Four great 
roads were built from the capital of Peru. One 
road went to each of the four parts of the 
kingdom. 

The capital of the country was a city called Cuzco. 

It was in the center of the kingdom. It was the 

richest and most wonderful city of all. It had 

, palaces and convents and temples, all decorated with 

gold and silver. 

Along the great highways that led to the four 
quarters of the kingdom were buildings of stone, 
several miles apart. These were used for resting 
places by the Inca or his army, when they were 
traveling. 

The Inca went about his kingdom every few 
years. He was always carried in a covered chair on 
the shoulders of chosen men. It was a great honor 
to help carry the Inca. 

If any one of the men fell, he was put to death. 
This was because the Inca was so precious to his 
people that no one must be careless. 

When the Inca traveled, all the people along the 
way would crowd the roads to see him. They 
would sweep the stones from the roads, and then 
strew the way with flowers. They would take the 
Inca's baggage, and carry it to the next village. 

Sometimes the Inca stopped and spoke to them, 



THE PERUVIANS 



09 



or held a court to settle disputes. Then the In- 
dians were very happy. 

There were no horses in Peru, until the Spaniards 
took them there. The only way the Inca had of 
sending messages or news was for people to carry 
word. So, like the Aztecs, the Peruvians had sta- 
tions along their great roads. 

Houses were built, five miles apart, where swift 
runners lived. A runner would take a messao^e and 
run as fast as he could to the next station. Then a 
new man would take the message from there to the 
next house, and so on. 

Of course this was much quicker than having one 
man take the message the whole distance. For he 
would soon get tired of running. 

Sometimes these runners brought to the Inca fish 
from the ocean, or game or fruit from some distant 
part of his kingdom. They ran so fast that it was 
always quite fresh when it reached the Inca. 





100 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

THE PERUVIANS {conthmed) 

HE Peruvians had no way of writing down 
their thoughts. They had not made up 
a picture writing, as the Aztecs had. 

They kept account of things by tying 
knots in cords made of different colored 
threads. This was much harder to learn than our 
arithmetic and writing. 

The Inca owned the whole country. A part of it 
he gave to the Sun. Everything raised on that part 
belonged to the priests in the different temples of 
the Sun. 

Everything that was raised on another part was 
for the Inca and his relatives. And the last part 
was for the people. 

At a certain time of year, all the men and women 
worked together to plant the land belonging to the 
Sun. Next they planted the land belonging to those 
who were old, or sick, or to soldiers off at the wars. 
Then they tended their own lands. Lastly they 
tended the lands of the Inca. 

The Inca owned large flocks of llamas. Once a 
year they were driven together! Then many were 
killed for food for the people at Court. The rest 
were sheared. 

The officers of the Inca would give to each family 



THE PERUVIANS 



lOl 



as much llamas' wool as was needed for clothing. 
The people would spin and weave and make their 
clothes. The officers would furnish them with cot- 
ton, too, for thinner clothes. 




A FLOCK OF LLAMAS. 



When their own things were made, then they 
were obliged to labor for the Inca. Everybody, even 
the children, had to keep busy in this country of 
Peru. 

You can see now why the Inca did not have the 
gold and the silver made into money. The people 
did not need it. They had everything they needed 



102 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



given them by the Inca, or they raised it themselves. 
So the Inca kept the gold and silver, and made 
beautiful things with them. 

Of course nobody could get rich in tliis country, 
for after his own work was done, he must labor for 
the Inca. He must fill the Inca's storehouses, or 
plant his land, or make roads or bridges or canals. 
But then nobody could be poor, either. Everybody 
had enough. 

The Incas kept making Peru larger and larger. 
Their soldiers would fifjht with some tribe of In- 
dians living near Peru, and conquer them. Then 
the Inca would own their land, and they must be- 
come his people. 

The Inca's soldiers had no guns. They had bows 
and arrows, spears, and lances, tipped with stone or 
copper. They did not know about iron. They had 
slings, too, and could shoot very well with them. 




THE INCA ATAHUALLPA 



103 



THE INCA ATAHUALLPA 




N their third voyage, PMzarro and Al- 
magro had more men, more horses, 
and more supplies than ever. They 
sailed at once to the friendly town of 
Tumbez, where they had seen such 
wonderful sights. 

As soon as they landed, a few 
natives set upon them. When the 
natives were driven off, the Span- 
iards found that the village was 
deserted. 

All the Indians had gone away. 
They had pulled down their temples. The gold 
that had covered the walls was nowhere to be 
found. The Spaniards were greatly disappointed. 
Pizarro spent several months exploring the coun- 
try near the coast. He was kind to all the natives, 
and soon they were friendly again. He found much 
gold, which he sent back to Panama to pay for his 
ships. 

He heard that the Inca knew he was in Peru, and 
had made a camp with a great army to await him. 
So he began to march inland toward the Inca's 
camp. 

The Indians were very friendly and gave the 



104 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Spaniards food, as they passed through their vil- 
lages. And in every village the Spanish priest told 
them about our God. 

The Spaniards had with them two young Indians, 
who had been to Spain with Pizarro. They had 
learned to speak Spanish. They could tell the Peru- 
vians all that the priest said. 

One day the Inca, whose name was Atahuallpa, 
sent a messenger to Pizarro. The messenger took 
a present of fine cloth embroidered with gold and 
silver. He invited Pizarro to visit the Inca's camp. 

Pizarro thought that the Inca invited him to go 
to the camp just to get him into a trap. Pizarro 
had less than two hundred men ; the Inca had a 
great army. He could easily kill all the Spaniards, 
if they went to his camp. 

But Pizarro decided to 2:0 and see what would 
come of it. So he and his men began to climb across 
the Andes. 

The way was so steep that the Spaniards had to 
walk and lead their horses. There were paths, but 
they had been made for Indians, and not for horses. 

Sometimes these paths ran along the edge of a 
high cliff. If any one slipped, he would fall down 
hundreds of feet, and be dashed to pieces on the 
rocks below. 

The tops of the mountains were covered with 



THE INCA ATAHUALLPA I05 

snow. The men nearly froze, because they were 
used to the valleys, where it was very warm. Some 
of the horses died of cold. 

At last they were across and near the Inca. He 
was camped at a place where there were some hot 
springs. The water from such a spring is warm 
enough for a bath, instead of being cold enough to 
drink. 

Pizarro sent his brother and Hernando de Soto 
and twenty of the soldiers to see the Inca. He was 
waiting for them. About him were gayly dressed 
Indian nobles. The Inca's clothes were not so gay, 
but he wore around his head a fringe of red. Only 
the king could wear this. 

Hernando de Soto was a soldier of the governor 
of Darien, who killed Balboa. He was a splendid 
horseman. He knew that the Inca had never seen 
a horse. So he struck spurs to his, and dashed over 
the plain, wheeling him round and round. 

Then coming back, he rode straight toward the 
Inca. He did not stop his horse until it was al- 
most near enough to touch Atahuallpa. It seemed 
as if he would ride over him. 

The Inca was a brave man and did not run away. 
He did not even show that he was astonished. 

Then the Indians gave the Spaniards wine to 
drink out of large golden vases. When it was 



io6 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



finished, the Spaniards invited the Inca to visit 
their camp. Then they rode back to Pizarro. 

They told Pizarro of the golden vases and of the 
great army. Pizarro knew that his few men could 
not conquer that army. So he thought of a plan to 
capture the Inca and keep him from his soldiers. 




UK SOXO RVDii. aiKAlGHX iOWARD THE INCA. 




A ROOM FULL OF GOLD 10/ 

A ROOM FULL OF GOLD 

PTZARRO told his men his plan to capture 
the Inca. The next day Atahuallpa came 
to visit the Spaniards. He sat in a covered 
chair made of pure gold. His highest 
nobles carried the chair. 

A priest met him and said to him, " We 
Spaniards have been sent to Peru by the 
King of Spain. He is a great king, greater 
than you. All Peru belongs to him." 
This made Atahuallpa very angry. He said, 
" Peru is my country." 

Just then the soldiers fell upon his guards and 
killed many of them and took the Inca prisoner. 
The Inca's soldiers did not know what to do 
without him, so they did not attack Pizarro. This 
was just as Pizarro had planned. 

Pizarro now began to march inland. He took 
Atahuallpa with him. He took the gold and the 
silver dishes that were in Atahuallpa's camp. 

In every city he found precious things. He 
found o-reat storehouses full of grrains and beautiful 
linen and woolen cloths. The Peruvians kept 
these houses always full in case they should be 
in need. 

Atahuallpa did not like to be a prisoner. He 



io8 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



saw that the Spaniards longed for gold. So he 
thought he would try to buy his freedom. 

One day he was in a room with Pizarro. He 
said to Pizarro, " I will fill this room, as high as I 
can reach, with gold, if you will let me go. And I 

will fill the next 
room with silver." 

Pizarro answered, 
" If you will do 
this, I will set you 
free." 

The Inca asked 
for two months to 
fill the rooms. It 
took many days for 
the swiftest runners 
to go to the distant 
parts of his king- 
dom. Then it took 
still longer for men to come back to him, carry- 
ing heavy loads of gold. 

So the Spaniards waited. For many weeks they 
saw the Indians come into camp carrying silver 
and gold dishes, platters and vases. They brought 
goblets and ornaments from the royal palaces. 

They brought golden imitations of different plants 
and animals. Among the plants, the most beauti- 




CARRYING HEAVY LOADS OF GOLD. 



A ROOM FULL OF GOLD IO9 

ful was the Indian corn. The ear was of gold ; the 
husk, the broad leaves, and the stalk were of silver; 
the silk, too, was of silver. 

One day Pizarro heard that the messengers the 
Inca had sent out for gold were telling all the In- 
dians to join together and kill the Spaniards, and set 
the Inca free. 

So he decided that he must kill Atahuallpa, if he 
wished to be out of danger. Then the Indians 
would never have any one to lead them again. It 
was a dreadful deed to do, but he did it. 

Soon after the Inca was killed, Pizarro began his 
march farther inland to Cuzco. He had heard that 
the city was full of treasures, and he wished to get 
still more. 

But the Indians were now very angry with Pi- 
zarro. They destroyed many storehouses so that 
the .Spaniards could not find food. They also 
began to hide their silver and gold in caves in the 
mountains. 

It seemed a dreadful thing to them to have 
strangers come to their land, take away their 
treasures, kill their king, and make slaves of them. 




no STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

THE GOLDEN COUNTRY AT LAST 

PIZARRO and his men had a wonderful 
journey to Cuzco. They found many 
strange things made by the Peruvians. 
There were swinging bridges to cross. 
These hung over deep canons. 

They were made for foot passengers 

and not for horses. They would swing 

back and forth when the cavalry crossed. 

Sometimes horses and men fell off and 

were dashed to pieces on the rocks below. 

The Spaniards found hard roads miles long, as 

good as our roads now. They found steps cut in 

the rocks on the sides of the mountains, up which 

their horses must climb. 

They found farms everywhere. In places where 
the ground was too dry for things to grow, the In- 
dians had built canals, miles long, to bring water 
from some river. 

At the foot of the mountains, where it was warm, 
the Indians planted things that grow best in hot 
climates. On the sides of the mountains, where it 
was cooler, they planted what would grow best 
there. 

Nearer the top, where nothing but grass would 
grow, was the pasture for the llamas. The soldiers 



THE GOLDEN COUNTRY AT LAST 



1 1 1 



saw immense 
flocks of these 
llamas, which all 
belonged to the 
Inca. They were 
watched by his 
shepherds. 

The soldiers 
found buildings 
made of better 
bricks than we 
have now. They 
found houses, 
palaces, and forts, 
built of huge 
stones. 

The shoes of 
the Spaniards' 
horses wore out 
on this march. 
As they had no 
iron, they shod their horses with shoes of silver! 

In many places the Indians attacked Pizarro and 
his men and fought them as hard as they could. 
But the Spaniards had better weapons and coats of 
mail. They always won the battles. 

At last they entered Cuzco, the capital of Peru, 




SOMETIMES HORSES AND MEN FELL OFF. 



112 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

and saw that wonderful city and the Temple of the 
Sun. They found many gold and silver statues in 
the temple. The lovely gardens outside were filled 
with gold and silver flowers. 

But the Spaniards never had enough treasures. 
They had become too greedy to be satisfied. 

They had to fight against the Indians for many 
years, because the Indians did not wish the Span- 
iards to govern them. The white men were cruel 
to the Peruvians and made slaves of them. They 
forced them to work so hard in the fields and mines 
that many died. 

And all this time the Spaniards could not agree 
with one another. They quarreled about every- 
thing. Almagro was killed and then Pizarro. So 
neither of them had a chance to go home to Spain 
and enjoy his riches. 

Then the king sent over to Peru other governors 
to take care of the country. It was such a rich land 
that he wished to keep it always for Spain. - 

So for many a day Spain owned much of the 
continent of South America. The Spanish people 
used the mines of silver, gold, and precious stones 
to make themselves more rich and powerful. 



THE ADVENTURE OF A FRENCH SAILOR 



113 



THE ADVENTURE OF A FRENCH SAILOR 



FEW years after Cabot had crossed the 

ocean, some Frenchmen began to sail 

their Httle boats to Newfoundland. 

So did the English and Portuguese and 

Spaniards. 

They were all jealous of one another. 
Each thought the wonderful fishing 
place belonged just to his king. 

But Francis, the King of France, 
was not satisfied with the good fishing. 
He wished to have his share of the 
New World. 
He had heard of the country of 
He had heard that King Charles of 
Spain had become rich with the gold Cortez 
sent him. Francis of France also wished to 
become rich. 

So the very year that Pizarro started for Peru, 
King Francis sent an Italian, named Verrazzano, 
across the Atlantic. Verrazzano was to explore the 
northern continent and to search toward the north 
for a passage to the Indies. 

Perhaps he might find a shorter way than 
Magellan had found. King Francis hoped that he 
would. Then, in the rich Indies, the king could 




114 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

make a new and richer kingdom for himself. For 
France was quite poor at this time. 

Verrazzano sailed along the coast of North 
America just where Cabot had sailed. Only Verraz- 
zano steered north, and Cabot had steered south. 

The French sailors had not been in that part of 
the world before. They could not believe that 
people lived there. Yet when they came in sight 
of the shore they saw fires burning. They saw 
strange looking people crowding down to the edge 
of the water. 

These were Indians, watching the ships of the 
white men. The ships seemed wonderful to them. 
They wished the Frenchmen to land and pointed 
out a good place. They made signs of welcome. 

But many of the Frenchmen had not seen In- 
dians before. The copper-colored people looked 
very strange to them. Their skins were dark. 
They wore no clothes as did the Frenchmen. They 
had feathers stuck in their long, black hair. Worst 
of all, the Frenchmen could not understand what 
the Indians were saying. 

They were not quite sure they really wished to 
go among them. But they needed in their ship? 
fresh water to drink. So a boat was rowed to the 
shore with casks to be filled with water. 

The surf was very high and the men could not 



THE ADVENTURE OF A FRENCH SAILOR 



115 



land. There were no wharves in those days. But 
one very brave sailor jumped overboard and swam 
toward the Indians with a present of beads. 

When he reached them, he became afraid. He 
threw his gift among them. Then he turned and 




THE INDIANS ANSW ERED HIM WITH YELLS. 



tried to swim back to the boat. But the waves 
dashed him upon the shore among the Indians. 

They seized him by his arms and legs and carried 
him away from the water. He called for help, and 
the Indians answered him with yells. They did not 
know that he was afraid, and he did not know that 
they were his friends. 

Next they lighted a fire. The Frenchman 
thought they were going to roast and eat him. 
The sailors watching in the ships thought so, too. 



Il6 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

But no ! They carefully warmed him and dried 
his clothes. Then they led him to the water and 
watched him until he reached the boat. 



THE FRENCHMEN AND THE INDIANS 

ERRAZZANO'S ships sailed toward the 
north, searching for a passage to India 
and China. One day a party of the 
sailors landed on the shore. They 
found some native women and children 
hiding in the grass. 

It was then that the Frenchmen 
forgot how kind the Indians had 
been to one of them. They did a wicked deed. 
They stole one of the little Indian children and 
carried him on board their ship. 

Then Verrazzano sailed on north, until he reached 
the place where New York City now stands. He 
did not see houses and stores and busy streets. He 
saw nothing but rocks and trees and land and water. 
And he saw a great harbor dotted with canoes. 
These canoes were filled with Indians dressed in 
skins and wearing feathered headdresses. Their 
faces were daubed with paint. They had come 
out to welcome the white men. 




THE FRENCHMEN AND THE INDIANS 117 

As Verrazzano sailed along the coast farther 
north, he found that the natives were not so friendly. 
Perhaps fishermen from Newfoundland had visited 
that coast and ill-treated them. 

At any rate, they would not let the Frenchmen 
go on shore. They shot arrows at them when 
they tried to do so, and gave yells which we call 
war whoops. 

But they were willing to trade with the sailors. 
They gave beautiful furs for fishhooks, knives, and 
pieces of iron. 

This is the way they traded. They stood on 
high rocks at the edge of the sea, and the French- 
men rowed close to the rocks. 

Then the natives dropped one end of a cord down 
to the boat. The sailors tied to the cord what they 
wished to trade. When the Indians pulled it up, 
they threw down their furs. 

These Indians were not like the Aztecs. They 
were not like the Peruvians. They were not so 
civilized. 

They did not live in houses. Their homes were 
wigwams made of skins or bark. They did not 
have one king to govern all the people. But each 
company or tribe had a head man, called a chief. 
He was their captain. 

There were many different tribes of Indians. 



Il8 STORIES OP^ AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Often the tribes went to war against one another. 
They called this going on the warpath. They 
painted their faces and bodies and took their 
weapons. Then they went silently through the 
woods, hunting for their enemies. 

But when they found them, they were not silent. 
They would give their horrible war whoops. Then 
they would kill as many as they could. 

The natives had no guns, but shot with bows 
and arrows. The arrows were tipped with sharp 
pieces of stone. They had stone hatchets, too, 
which -we call tomahawks. They used these for 
weapons. 

We call an Indian man a brave; an Indian 
woman, a squaw; and a baby, a papoose. The 
squaws had to work very hard while the braves 
hunted or went on the warpath. 

When Verrazzano reached Newfoundland, he 
had to sail home, for his food was nearly gone. 
He had found no rich country, nor any northern 
passage to the Indies or to Cathay. This was the 
name which people gave China. 

But his sailors were so excited over the voyage 
that they made up strange stories about it. One 
story was that they had sailed near a wondei-ful 
country called Norumbega. 

They said that in this country there was a city 



THE FRENCHMEN AND THE INDIANS 



119 




whose houses were 
raised on posts of glass 
and silver. These posts 
were decorated with 
precious stones. This 
rich city was said to 
be in what is now the 
state of Maine. 

Many Frenchmen be- 
lieved this story. It 
was no stranger than 
the true things about 




THIS IS THE WAY THEY TRADED. 



I20 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Mexico. People wished more ships to be sent 
across the ocean to explore. 

France be^an to feel as if she owned a share in 
the New World. In a few years a man named 
Jacques Cartier set sail from France to search for 
a northern route to the Indies and to Cathay. 



WHAT JACQUES CARTIER FOUND 

HE King of France next sent Jacques 
Cartier across the ocean to search for 
a way to Cathay. Cartier had been 
a sailor all his life. So he was glad 
to sail away to a new country and 
see what he could find. 

He steered past Newfoundland 
and found himself in a large gulf 
leading westward. So he felt sure 
that at last he was on the road to the Indies. This 
was the gulf of St. Lawrence. 

When he landed on the mainland, he raised a 
great cross made of rough timbers. On the middle 
of the cross was a shield with three fieurs-de-lis. 
The fleurs-de-lis were the lilies of France. 

They were the sign of the French king, just as 




WHAT JACQUES CARTIER FOUND I2I 

the eagle is the sign of our own country. Many 
French explorers raised a cross with fleurs-de-lis, to 
show that the place belonged to their king. 

Cartier liked very much this new land, which he 
had discovered. He found wild strawberries, wheat, 
and peas growing there. He saw lovely red and 
white roses blossoming. But winter was coming 
on, so he turned his ships toward home. 

The very next year, Cartier set out again for 
America. He steered at once for the new grulf 
which he had discovered. Sailing through this, he 
came to the opening of a passage, leading westward. 
Then he felt sure that he had at last found the way. 

How disappointed he must have been when he 
found that his passage was only a river ! 

He did not think of the honor that would be his 
for discovering this great river. He did not seem 
to care because he was the first white man to sail 
upon its waters. He wished it were a strait, leading 
to the Indies. 

But at least he must explore this new country 
that he had gained for France. So he sailed up the 
great river, which we call the St. Lawrence. 

He landed upon an island where the trees were 
covered with wild grapevines. Then he sent some 
of his large boats still farther up the river to ex- 
plore. 



122 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



UP THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER 



HE Indians were very friendly to 
Cartier. But for some reason they did 
not wish him to sail up their river. 
They thought they could frighten him 
away. 

So three of them dressed in black 
and white dog skins. They painted 
their faces black and fastened on long 
horns. Then they got into a canoe 
and floated down the stream to where 
Cartier was. 

They pretended that they came 
from an Indian god who lived up 
the river. They said, " Our god has 
sent us to warn the white men that they will die if 
they go on up the stream." 

Of course this did not frighten Cartier. He 
laughed at the Indians. Then he sailed up the 
river to see what he could find. It was autumn. 
He found the banks of the St. Lawrence covered 
with trees whose leaves had turned to red and yellow. 
He saw wild grapevines heavy with grapes. He 
saw waterfowl and many wild animals. He heard 
the chirp of blackbird and thrush. But he saw 
and heard nothing to frighten him. 




UP THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER 



123 



At last he reached the place where the city of 
Montreal now is. He found a thousand Indians 
crowding the bank. They were dancing and yell- 
ing with delight. They gave presents of fish and 
maize to the Frenchmen. Then they took the 
Frenchmen into their town. 




THE INDIANS THOUGHT THEY COULD FRIGHTEN CARTIER. 

These Indians lived in long houses made of poles 
and covered with bark. Nlany families lived in one 
house. They did not move about as some other 
tribes did. 

They lived by fishing and planting. They dried 
and smoked their fish. They pounded their grain 



124 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

between flat stones, to make flour. Then they 
made it into dough and cooked it on hot rocks. 

The Indians thought that Cartier was a strange 
god. They wished him to touch all who were lame 
or blind or ill. They thought this would make them 
well. 

Cartier gave them knives, hatchets, beads, and 
rings. Soon he sailed down the river to his ships. 

Winter came on and this was hard for the French- 
men. They longed for sunny France, where the 
winter is not cold. But where Cartier built his little 
fort, it w^as different. 

The ground froze, the river froze, and the sailors 
nearly froze. Great snowdrifts rose above the sides 
of their ships. The masts and sails were covered 
with ice. 

Then a still worse thing happened. The French- 
men began to fall sick. Cartier did not know how 
to cure them. Soon many died. Cartier became 
afraid that the Indians would find this out and kill 
the rest. 

He did not dare let the red men visit the fort. 
If any came near, he had his men make noises and 
hit the walls of the fort. He did this so that the 
Indians might think they were well and very busy. 

One day Cartier saw a native who had been ill 
just as his sailors were. This Indian told Cartier 



UP THE ST. LAWRENCE RiVER. 125 

to make a drink from spruce boughs for his sick 
sailors. Cartier did so and they began to get well. 

When this dreadful winter was over, Cartier sailed 
back to France. He took with him some Indian 
chiefs. One of them was a great story teller. 

He told of a land of gold and rubies ; of a tribe of 
white Indians; of men who lived without food; of 
others who had but one leg. He was such a story 
teller that Cartier wished the king to hear him. 

Cartier sailed to America once more. He hoped 
to make a colony in New France. This was the 
name given to Canada, the part of the continent he 
explored. But he did not succeed. His men would 
not work hard enough. 

They hunted for what was probably quartz crys- 
tal, because they thought it diamonds. They picked 
yellow stuff out of slate, because they thought it gold. 
How people must have laughed at them if they took 
it back to France ! Sometimes we call it fools' gold. 

They did not like to clear the forest away and 
plant seeds. And they dreaded the cold winter that 
was coming. 

So Cartier took them home. It was not until 
years later that the French did make a settlement in 
the country which Cartier found for his king. 



126 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



THE MARCH OF HERNANDO DE SOTO 



H 




ERNANDO DE SOTO was a soldier 
of the governor of Darien when Bal- 
boa was beheaded. Afterward he fol- 
lowed Pizarro to Peru. 

He was the horseman who tried to 

yf-ZiX JJ^V frighten the Inca by riding his horse 

^4«£^^^;;^HI^^» almost over him. He became very 

rich in Peru. He liad a large share 

of the treasures that Pizarro found. 

When he returned to Spain, he asked the king to 
make him the governor of Florida. 

Now Spanish Florida went as far west as the land 
goes. It was not just the little piece which de Leon 
had explored. It was a very large part of our 
continent. 

Several companies had tried to explore this great 
tract of land. Many Spaniards had lost their lives 
there. Some had wandered in the forests for years. 
But whoever returned had wonderful tales to tell 
of riches which he could not carry home with 
him. 

Hernando de Soto was very rich with the Incas' 
gold. He believed Florida was another wonderful 
country like Peru. He wished to go and see for 
himself. 



THE MARCH OF HERNANDO DE SOTO 



127 




THE SOLDIER CAUGHT HIM UP ON HIS SADDLE. 



So he took several ships and many men and 
sailed to Cuba. 

From there he went to Florida. He had with him 
priests and workmen and soldiers. He also had two 
or three hundred horses, a large herd of swine, and 
many bloodhounds. 



128 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

The very first night that the Spaniards slept in the 
new land their troubles began. The Indians fell 
upon them and tried to kill those who were camped 
on shore. 

If only the Spaniards could have known that they 
would never be safe from these enemies, perhaps 
they would have sailed back to Cuba. But instead 
they spent three dreadful years wandering over our 
continent. 

De Soto's men found, near their camp, a deserted 
Indian villaoe. So de Soto moved his soldiers 
there. Every day he sent out men to capture the 
natives who had lived in this village. He wished 
them for guides, and he wished to learn from them 
things about the country. 

He could not talk to them well, for he did not 
know their language. But he gave every Indian 
he caught a present for his chief, and then let 
him go. 

The presents made the chief very angry. " I hate 
the white men," he said. " Have you forgotten those 
Spaniards who killed my mother.-^ Have you for- 
gotten how they hurt me.'* Bring me no presents 
from them, until you can bring me their heads." 

That was the way most of the Indians felt. For 
the Spaniards who had explored their country, before 
de Soto came, had been very cruel to them. 



THE MARCH OF HERNANDO DE SOTO 129 

De Soto learned from the natives that there was 
a Spaniard Hving with another tribe. He sent men 
to rescue him. One party came upon a small band 
of Indians. All the Indians but two got away and 
hid in the forest. 

The soldiers were just about to kill one of these 
men, when he cried out, using a Spanish word: 

" Are you a Spaniard .^^ " shouted a soldier. 

"Yes, yes!" answered the man. 

So the soldier caught him up on his saddle and 
rode off with him to de Soto. De Soto thanked 
God that this poor man was found. He had been a 
captive of the Indians for many years. 

He could hardly speak his own language at first. 
He had almost forgotten how it sounded. But he 
had learned the languages of many Indian tribes. 

De Soto was glad to have some way of making 
the natives understand him. The poor Spaniard 
was glad to be with his countrymen once more. 

Now de Soto marched toward the north. The 
country was full of swamps. Sometimes the Indian 
guides led the Spaniards into them. The march 
was very hard. The soldiers lost courage. They 
found no gold and they wished to give up the 
search. 

But de Soto would not give up. Always he heard 
of countries a little farther on, where gold could be 



I ^o 



STORIES OF AiMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



found. And should he turn back when gold was 
within reach ? 

Along the march the Spaniards stole the maize 
which the Indians had raised. Sometimes this left 
the Indians starving. They captured the natives 
and made them their slaves. They chained them 
in couples so that the slaves could not run away. 
They stole the Indian women for servants. 

They were so cruel that they did not act at all 
like Christians. Everywhere the Indians learned to' 
hate them. And so the first year of the Spaniards' 
wandering was passed. 



THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 



n)¥ 



THE country through which the 
Spaniards marched was often 
beautiful. The soil was rich. 
But they could not stop to plant 
things. They must hurry on 
for gold. 

Their provisions began to 
The woods were full of deer and wild 
There were fish in the streams. But the 
soldiers were not good hunters and fishermen. So 
they often went hungry. 




give out. 
turkeys. 



THE DISCOV^ERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 131 

They did not dare kill all their pigs. They must 
keep some of them. So at last they suffered much 
from want of meat. 

Still they found no gold. But always they heard 
of it from the Indians, and it seemed only a little 
farther on. So on they wandered. 

At one place an Indian queen came to meet de 
Soto. She was not afraid of him. She threw 
around his neck a heavy string of pearls, which 
she had worn. She gave him presents of mantles 
made of feathers. 

She saw that he liked the pearls best. So she 
told him where her people had buried large quan- 
tities of them. The Spaniards dug where she told 
them and found many pounds of pearls. But they 
were not very valuable ones. 

When de Soto marched away, he took this kind 
queen captive. He meant to carry her with him, 
but she escaped. 

De Soto then turned toward the south. If he 
had keep on northward, he would have found a 
little gold. But he did not know this, and so he 
traveled away from it. 

At last he came to a large Indian village. It had 
many houses and was surrounded by palisades. A 
palisade is a high fence made of pointed sticks, set 
close together. 



132 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

De Soto attacked this town. His men set it on 
fire. Many Indians were killed. The Spaniards 
did not care for this. But they did care be- 
cause most of their own baggage was lost in the 
fire they themselves had kindled. 

Their clothing was burned and so was the food 
their slaves carried for them. Perhaps they wished 
they had not set fire to the Indian village. 

De Soto learned that he was within a week's 
march of the coast. He heard that two ships, 
filled with provisions, were sailing up and down, 
searching for him. He tried to keep this news from 
his soldiers. He feared they would desert him and 
go back to Cuba. 

But some of his men heard of the ships, and they 
did plan to desert. Now de Soto was a very proud 
man. He did not wish news of his bad luck to 
reach Cuba. 

One hundred of his men had died since he 
started. He had lost his pearls. He was ashamed 
to have people know that he had not found gold. 

So he did not even send word to his wife, who 
was governor of Cuba while he was away. When 
he learned that some of his soldiers planned to 
desert him, he started at once to march on again. 

One night the Indians attacked him and his 
men. They shot arrows covered with burning 



THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 133 

grass among the huts of the Spaniards. These set 
the huts on fire. 

The Spaniards were so surprised that they could 
not save even their clothes. Their blankets and 




"no," said others, "it must be a river." 



saddles and weapons were burned. Nearly all their 
hogs and many of their horses were lost. 

So they had to forge new swords and make 
spears. They dressed themselves in skins, and 
braided mats of dried grass for blankets. This was 
hard for them, but they had deserved it. 

On and on they wandered through the wilder- 
ness, until one day they came in sight of a large 
piece of water. 



134 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

" Another lake," some cried. " Now we must 
travel far around this." 

" No," said others. " This is not a lake. See how 
swiftly the water runs past us. Who ever heard of 
a lake flowing along? It must be a river." 

" But whoever saw such a wide river .? " said some 
of the soldiers. 

And indeed it was wide. It was so wide that the 
Spaniards could not tell an Indian from a deer, on 
the farther side. 

The water was thick and yellow with the mud it 
carried along. The Spaniards called it the " Grand 
River," but we call it by the Indian name Missis- 
sippi, which means "The Great Father of Waters." 

De Soto and his men were not glad to find this 
great river. It was in their way. They wished to 
march on, and this mighty stream stopped them. 
They must halt and make boats in which to cross. 
So they set to work building boats to take the 
army across the wide Mississippi. 




LOST IN NORTH AMERICA 



135 



LOST IN NORTH AMERICA 




lT last de Soto's boats were fin- 
ished, and his whole army was 
across the Mississippi. 

Now the Spaniards wan- 
dered on, still hunting for gold. 
They found none, but they 
found some wonderful springs. 
These were salt water, instead of fresh water springs. 
They learned about the bison, or American buf- 
falo, which lived farther north. They bought skins 
of these animals from the Indians. These skins 
made very warm robes. 

At last de Soto, too, became discouraged. He 
said he would turn his march toward the ocean. 
Then he could send to Cuba for more soldiers and 
supplies. 

He sent out men to find the nearest way to the 
sea. When they returned, they brought bad 
news. In eight days they had been able to go 
but a little way because of the great swamps and 
dense forests. 

De Soto was worn out with hardships and dis- 
appointments. He could not bear this last mis- 
fortune. He fell ill with a fever. Then one day 
he died in his camp near the " Father of Waters." 



136 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

His soldiers did not wish the natives to know 
this. They had been told that de Soto was the son 
of the San and could not die. 

So one dark night they wrapped him in mantles 
made heavy with sand. Then they rowed to the 
middle of the river. They gently sunk de Soto's 
body there. 

And there he has slept ever since — his grave in 
the wonderful river he discovered. 

His soldiers and their new leader then tried to 
find their way to the Spanish settlements in Mexico. 




TIIEY GKNTI.Y SUNK DK SOTO S BODY. 



LOST IN NORTH AMERICA 137 

They wandered far to tlie west and lost themselves 
in the great forest. They asked the Indians they 
found, but none of them knew the way. The In- 
dians everywhere attacked them. The Spaniards 
were sick, starving, and in despair. 

At last they turned back to the great river. 
They would try one more way to save themselves 
from dying. They did not know where the river 
flowed, but they would sail down it and perhaps 
find help. 

In six months they had built seven frail boats. 
They used every scrap of iron they had for nails 
and spikes. Then they twisted the inner bark of a 
tree for ropes. The Indians gave them mantles 
of matting for sails. They stole the Indians' maize 
for food. They killed all the hogs and most of 
the horses for meat. 

They were many days reaching the mouth of the 
Mississippi. Then they did not know that they 
were in the Gulf of Mexico. They noticed that 
the water was not salt for many miles after they 
had left the bank of the river. 

They knew that sea water is salt. Could they 
really be out on the sea then ? This was because 
the great river is so strong that it sends its fresh 
water many miles from land. But the Spaniards 
did not understand it. 



138 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

They did not know which way to steer, but they 
turned their ships westward. They kept close to 
the coast to watch for a settlement. They sailed 
nearly two months in their frail ships, looking and 
looking for help. 

Then one day they saw a Spanish flag floating 
in the breeze. They knew they had at last found 
friends. How they must have shouted when they 
saw their own flag once more ! 

They were half naked and nearly starved. They 
looked more like wild beasts than like men. But 
they fell on their knees and kissed the ground when 
they landed among their own people. 

They thought of their many friends left in the 
pathless forests. Some were dead ; some were cap- 
tives of the Indians. They thought of brave de 
Soto, laid to rest in the deep river. Then they 
thanked God that they were saved and with their 
countrymen once more. 





THE KING'S TREASURE HOUSE 139 

THE KING'S TREASURE HOUSE 

THERE was a brave Englishman whose 
name was Francis Drake. He sailed 
"^ the Spanish Seas and captured many 
treasures from the Spaniards. 

Spain bad become a rich and power- 
ful country. She was not willing to 
share her riches. She owned much new land. 
She wished to own all the new waters. So she 
claimed the Gulf of Mexico for herself. She also 
claimed the wide Pacific. 

No English ship had ever sailed on the Pacific, 
and Spain made up her mind that no English ship 
ever should. Since Magellan's voyage, no one had 
sailed through his passage. The waters were too 
stormy. 

So Spain felt very sure about keeping the South 
Sea for her own. Her treasure ships from Peru 
sailed safely to Panama. Then the gold was car- 
ried on mules across the Isthmus of Darien. 

It was stored at Nombre de Dios, a town on the 
Atlantic shore. At this place there was a building 
called the King's Treasure House. It was filled 
with gold and silver belonging to the Spaniards. 

In those days the English and Spaniards were 
not friends. They hated each other. The English 



140 



STORIES OF AiMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



sailors would often fight against the Spanish sailors. 

Sometimes they would capture or sink each other's 

ships. 

Brave Englishmen would sail over the waters 

Spain claimed, seeking for ships to attack. These 

waters were called the Spanish Main. 

At last one Englishman planned a daring deed. 

This was Francis Drake. He planned to sail across 

the Atlantic to N ombre de Dios. Then he meant to 

capture from the Spaniards the gold and silver in 

the King's Treasure House. 

So Francis Drake sailed his ships near to Nom- 

bre de Dios. 
Then he hid 
them in a little 
cove. When 
it was dark, he 
and his men 
silently rowed 
toward the 
town. 

They made 
no noise. 
They spoke 
in whispers. 
They wished 

HE RAN TO RING THE ALARM BELLS. tO SUrpriSC thC 




THE KING'S TREASURE HOUSE 141 

Spaniards. Then their enemies would not be 
guarding the Treasure House. 

But the moon came out. And as Drake's men 
were creeping up the stairs of the wharf, a Spanish 
sentinel saw them. At first he thought them 
ghosts. He did not know that any EngHshmen 
were in that part of the world. 

Then he turned and ran with all his might to ring 
the alarm bells. The bells waked all the Spanish 
soldiers. They came running to see what was the 
trouble. 

Drake was caught. But he knew what to do. 
He began to fight the Spaniards in the market- 
place. 

While he was fighting, he said to some of his men, 
"Run to the King's Treasure House. You will not 
find many guards there. Break open the doors. 
Take what treasure you can. Carry it to the boats. 
I will keep these soldiers busy fighting." 

So the Spanish soldiers fought Drake, and did not 
think to watch their Treasure House. When 
Drake's men broke down the doors, they saw piles 
and piles of bars of solid silver. 

Just then mules came galloping to the door, 
driven by some Spaniards. These mules were 
to take the treasure away to a safe place till the 
fight should be over. 



142 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



But the Englishmen captured them. They loaded 
the silver on their backs. Then they drove them 
swiftly down to the boat. 

Drake and his soldiers soon came, too. Drake 
had been wounded and his men carried him. But 
they hurried on board and started toward their 
ships. Soon they and their silver were safe. 



FRANCIS DRAKE'S WISH 



RANCIS DRAKE sailed the Span- 
ish Main for six months after he 
' captured his first treasures. He 
did not go home to England. 
He wished to trouble the 
Spaniards more. He hated them 
and lono^ed to take all their treas- 
ures from them. 
He learned from the Indians when a mule train, 
loaded with o^old, would cross the Isthmus. This 
gold came from Peru. It would -go into the King's 
Treasure House at Hombre de Dios. 

There was no use in trying to attack the Treasure 
House again. The Spaniards would be sure that 




FRANCIS DRAKE'S WISH 



143 




UP THE TRUNK OF A GREAT TREE DRAKE 
CLIMBED. 



it was better guarded. 
But one thing Drake 
could do. He could 
leave his ships and 
march inland. 

Then he could lie in 

wait for the caravan of 

mules. He could attack 

the Spaniards in charge 

of them. Maybe he 

could capture the 

gold they carried. 

Led by an In- 
dian guide, a few 
of the Englishmen 
started. They 
marched by night 
and hid by day. 
They were always 
At last the guide 
Up the trunk of 



in fear of meeting Spaniards, 
led Drake to the top of a hill 
a great tree Drake climbed. Then he looked about 
him. He looked toward the south. He saw some- 
thing that no Englishman had ever seen. 

Far beyond the mountains, and hills, and valleys 
something blue4ay shining in the sun. It was the 
South Sea, the great Pacific Ocean. 



144 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Never had English eyes looked upon those waters. 
Never had English ships sailed upon them. When 
Francis Drake saw that blue ocean stretchins: west- 
ward, he wished to sail upon it. 

He seemed to care for nothing so much as to 
steer his ship through those waters. He fell on his 
knees and prayed a prayer. His prayer asked God 
to grant him his wish of sailing an English ship on 
that Spanish Sea. 

That night an Indian came to camp with news 
that the mule train was near. Drake hid his men 
in the tall grass near the trail and waited. 

One hour passed. All was quiet. Two hours 
passed. The English still waited patiently. Then 
came the sound of hoofs. Soon the pack train was 
in sight. Now was Drake's time to capture it. 

But before he could tell his men what to do, some- 
thing happened. A foolish Englishman leaped up 
and yelled. In a second the mule train had run 
away. 

So Drake and his men never s^ot that Q:old. The 
Spaniards hid it in the woods and hid themselves, 
too. 

Then the Englishmen had to get back to their 
ships. The Spaniards were now on the lookout for 
them. But they dodged their enemies safely and 
reached the coast. They built a raft and floated 



1 



FRANCIS DRAKE'S WISH 145 

about on it until they reached their ships. Then 
they were safe from the Spaniards. 

They had had adventures enough, and Drake 
turned home at last. One Sunday his ships an- 
chored in Plymouth Harbor in England. 

The people who were in church heard that Drake 
had come home. They could not wait for the serv- 
ice to be over. Out rushed every man, woman, and 
child, leaving the pews empty — they were in such 
a hurry to see bold Francis Drake and his ships, 
loaded with Spanish treasures. 

The silver which Drake had taken from the King's 
Treasure House made him very rich. He was so 
rich that he could buy a fine castle and have many 
servants. But Drake did not care for these. He 
wished for one thing only. 

This was to sail an English ship on the South Sea. 
He wished to show the Spaniards that the South 
Sea was not theirs. He wished to prove to them 
that he was not afraid to sail upon it. 

The Queen of England was Queen Elizabeth. 
She was glad to have such a brave man as Francis 
Drake for her sailor. She was willing he should 
sail the South Sea if he could. 

So Drake set out with five ships. Every one 
thouorht he was oroino- to Africa to trade. If he 
had told where he really was going, the Spaniards 



146 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



would have heard of it. Then they would have 
been on their guard. 




THE ENGLISH DRAGON 

RANCIS DRAKE and his five ships 

sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. 

They reached the coast of South 

America. They anchored in a 



harbor where Magellan had 
anchored more than fifty years 
before. 

Two of Drake's ships gave out and he was left 
with only three. Drake meant to sail through the 
Strait of Magellan and into the Pacific Ocean. 

Then he meant to cruise about, capturing Span- 
ish ships. It was a daring thing to do. He did 
not seem to think that some of them might capture 
him. 

When Drake reached the Pacific Ocean, he re- 
named his ship the Golden Hind. 

A great storm came up and Drake was driven far 
below South America. He saw the waves of the 
Atlantic and the Pacific sweep together. One of 
his ships was lost and one sailed back to England. 



THE ENGLISH DRAGON I47 

So the little Golden Hind was left all alone to sail 
the South Sea. 

Drake steered the Golden Hind northward into 
the forbidden waters of the Pacific. Not a Spaniard 
was seen, till he came to a Spanish town on the coast. 

Here were Spanish ships in the harbor. They 
had no thought of seeing an English vessel on that 
side of South America. So they saluted and beat 
a welcome on their drums. 

But Drake soon showed that he was an English- 
man. He captured the ships and sacked the town. 
He got from the fort gems and wedges of pure gold. 
Then he sailed on north. 

At one place where Drake landed, he found a 
Spaniard asleep, with thirteen bars of silver piled 
beside him. He was waiting for a Spanish ship. 

When he awoke, he found a -ship had called, 
but it had been an English one. Drake had 
taken the silver. 

Farther on, Drake landed again to see what 
treasures were coming over the hills to the coast. 
Along a trail came a boy whistling, as he drove 
eiQ:ht llamas. Each llama carried black leather 
sacks full of gold. 

The sailors were wild with delight. So much 
Spanish gold for their own! But Drake meant to 
have still more. He had heard of the treasure ship 



148 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



which carried gold from Peru to Panama. What if 
the Gdldeii Hind could capture her ? 

Already news was being sent up the coast by 




THE FIGHT WAS SOON OVER. 



land that " The English Dragon " was near. That 
was the Spanish name for Drake. He knew he 
must sail swiftly, to be ahead of the messengers. 



THE ENGLISH DRAGON I49 

He heard that the treasure ship had started. He 
knew he must overtake her before she reached 
Panama. It was a race for gold. The wind fell, 
but Drake's brave sailors towed the Golden Hmd 
by rowing the small boats. 

They hardly stopped to eat or to sleep. They 
must catch The Glory of the South Sea, the Span- 
ish treasure ship. They must not lose her. 

One afternoon the lookout shouted, " Sail ho ! " 
Every man on board knew that a fight was coming. 
Soon they were close to The Glory of the South 
Sea. 

She stopped and waited for them. Her captain 
did not know that " The English Dragon " was 
near. He thought the Golden Hind was a Spanish 
ship. 

The fight was soon over and the treasure ship 
was Drake's. On her were emeralds and pearls, tons 
of silver, and pounds of gold. 

There was treasure enough to make all of Drake's 
men rich. They had no need to look for other 
ships to capture. The Golden Hind could hold 
no more heavy gold and silver. So now for 
England ! 

Drake did not dare go home by the Strait of 
Magellan. All the Spanish ships would be waiting 
to catch him. He must go some other way. He 



I50 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

steered up the coast of North America, hunting for 
a passage through. But he found none. 

Then he knew that he must sail across the wide 
Pacific as Magellan had sailed. He had taken some 
charts of the Pacific from a captured Spanish ship. 

This was good luck, for only the Spaniards knew 
the way across the ocean. He steered by these 
charts to the Philippines, then around Africa, and 
so back to Plymouth Harbor. " The English 
DraQ:on " was at home once more. 

Bells were set ringing. Messengers rode to 
London to tell the queen. The news spread. 

People said, "Francis Drake has come home." — 
" His ship is loaded with Spanish treasure." — " He 
has sailed around the world." Every one was glad 
to have him safe in England. 

So Francis Drake's wish came true. He wished 
to sail an English ship over that Spanish Sea. He 
wished to show the Spaniards that the sea was not 
theirs. All of this he did. 



■i^:'-? vT^- 




SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



151 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



T'HIS is a story of another Frenchman. 
His name was Samuel de Champlain. 
He came across the sea to find out all he 
could about New France. 

People had learned that there were 
many wild animals in the new country. 
Their fur was very valuable. France 
wished to keep all these furs. She did 
not wish any other nation to be able to 
buy and sell them. 

So it seemed best to make settlements 
in New France. If the French made vil- 
lages, other nations could not claim that 
part of North America. The people who 
settled there could buy furs from the Indians. They 
could trap animals and get the skins themselves. 
Then they could send the skins to France to be sold. 
So Samuel de Champlain crossed the ocean sev- 
eral times to explore New France. He looked 
for good places to make settlements. He noticed 
whether the climate was hot or cold, and whether 
the soil was rich enough to make good farms. 

He looked to see what trees, berries, and vege- 
tables were found in New France. He learned all 
he could about the Indians who lived there. 




152 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

One day he landed in what is now the state of 
Maine. There he found Indians who did not plant 
maize. They lived by hunting and fishing. They 
made snowshoes to use when the snow was deep in 
winter. The heavy animals they hunted would sink 
in the soft snow at every step. 

The Indians on their snowshoes would not sink, 
so they could overtake the animals and kill them. 

These snowshoes looked very queer to the 
Frenchmen. They were like racquets, with which 
they played a game. But who ever heard of walk- 
ing on racquets ? 

Farther south Champlain found Indians who 
lived in big huts. These huts were covered with oak 
bark and surrounded by palisades. Several families 
lived in each one. 

They painted their faces red and black. They 
shaved the tops of their heads. The rest of their 
hair grew long. In the long hair they twisted 
feathers. 

They did not live by hunting. They had gar- 
dens. In these they planted corn, several grains in 
a hill, as we do. With the corn they planted beans. 
Besides these vegetables, they, raised squashes, 
pumpkins, and tobacco. 

All these things grew in the New World and did 
not need to be brought from France. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



153 



The Indians had no plows with which to turn up 
the eartii. They used a sort of spade made of wood. 
They also used the shells of large crabs for shovels. 

In another place Champlain found that the 
Indians used hollow logs for canoes. The inside 
of the log was burned out with fire. 




THE FRENCHMAN STARTED AFTER THE RED MAN. 



It took great care to make these canoes, for the 
fire must not burn the edge of the log. If it blazed 
too fast, they poured on water to stop it. Canoes 
like these tipped over very easily. The Indians 
had to sit carefully in the middle of them, unless 
they wished a ducking. 

Champlain visited the harbor of Plymouth, where 
the English settled fifteen years later. There he 
found the Indians living in round wigwams covered 



154 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

with mats. At the top of each wigwam was an 
opening for smoke to pass out. 

Near almost every wigwam was a garden. These 
Indians did not have storehouses for their corn. 
They did not keep it in their wigwams during the 
winter. Instead they put it into sacks of grass. 

They dug trenches in the earth and laid the 
sacks in the trenches. They covered them with 
piles of sand. 

At every place where Champlain stopped, he 
learned more about the Indians. Sometimes he 
learned good things, sometimes bad things. He 
found that they were not always honest, that they 
would steal if they could. And at last he found 
that he could not trust them to be friendly. 

For at one place some of his men landed to get 
water at a spring. An Indian ran up and snatched 
a kettle from one of them. Of course the French- 
man started after the red man to get his kettle. 

He was shot with arrows by other red men, who 
were watching. The French on board the ship 
then fired at the Indians. Champlain's gun burst 
and nearly killed him. But the Indians ran into 
the woods, and the sailors got back to their 
ship. 

Soon after this Champlain steered north again. 
He had learned more about the coast of New Eng- 



HOW CHAMPLAIN WENT ON THE WARPATH 155 

land than any other man knew. And he could tell 
his king much about the Indians and how they 
lived. 




HOW CHAMPLAIN WENT ON THE WARPATH 

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN had made a 
little settlement at Quebec, on the St. 
Lawrence River. One day a young 
Indian chief visited Quebec. He 
belonged to the Algonquin tribe of 
Indians. 

Everything he saw at the white 
men's village astonished him. He 
wished to have the white men for his friends. 

So he said to Champlain, " In the spring my 
people go upon the warpath. We go to fight our 
enemies, the Iroquois. Come with us and help us." 
Champlain was always glad to travel. He liked to 
see new places. So he promised that he would go. 
When spring came, Champlain and some of his 
men went to meet his friends, the Algonquins. 
Most of them had never seen white people. They 
could hardly stop looking at the Frenchmen. 

Champlain and the Indians paddled up the St. 



156 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Lawrence. After a few days they came to the 
mouth of anotlier river. This empties into the 
St. Lawrence. We call it the Richelieu. 

Up this river they turned. Their enemies, the 
Iroquois, lived toward the south. The Algonquins 
had told Champlain that he could go all the way in 
his sailboat. But Champlain found, in the Riche- 
lieu, rapids which he could not pass. 

He had heard from the hidians about a great lake 
near them. He wished to see it for himself. He 
wished to see the islands in it and the forests about 
it. He wished to see the high mountains which 
surround it. 

He said to the Algonquins, " My friends, the 
Algonquins, have not been honest with me. They 
have not told me the truth. But I will be honest 
with them. I promised to go on the warpath 
against the Iroquois. I will keep my promise." 

He sent most of his men back to Quebec in his 
sailboat. But he and two of his soldiers went on 
with the Indians. 

The Algonquins were much pleased because 
Champlain did not turn back. They kept saying 
that they would show him beautiful things. They 
carried their canoes through the woods past the 
rapids. When they came to smoother water, they 
got into the canoes again. 



HOW CHAMPLAIN WENT ON THE WARPATH 15; 







THEY CARRIED THEIR CANOES THROUGH THE WOODS. 

At night the party always stopped. The Indians 
built shelters of bark. They cut down trees around 
their huts to protect them . from the enemy. 
Several braves would go out from camp to see if 
any Iroquois were near. 

If they found none, they all went to sleep. No 



158 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

one kept watch. They had no sentinels. Cham- 
plain did not like this. He thought it was careless. 

He said, " Some night your enemies will surprise 
you. You will not be ready to fight them. Then 
they will kill you." 

But the Algonquins said, " We are too tired to sit 
up all night and watch. This is the way we have 
always done." And they would not listen to Cham- 
plain. 

The Algonquins believed in dreams. . Eveiy 
morning they asked Champlain what he had dreamed. 
One night he dreamed that he saw the Iroquois 
drowning in the lake. When he told the Indians 
this, they were very happy. 

They said, " This means that we shall kill our 
enemies." 

At last the Richelieu became very wide. Soon 
they entered the lake which now bears Champlain's 
name. It stretched as far south as Champlain 
could see. On the left rose the ranges which we 
call the Green Mountains. On the opposite shore 
were the Adirondacks. 

Champlain said that he saw snow on the tops of 
the Green Mountains. But he . must have been 
mistaken. It was July, and no snow would have 
been there in the middle of summer. 

The Algonquins told Champlain that the Iro- 



HOW CHAMPLAIN WENT ON THE WARPATH 159 

quois lived among the mountains on both sides of 
the lake. They were now near the enemies' coun- 
try. So they traveled by night and hid in the 
woods by day. 

One night, as they paddled silently along, they 
saw canoes moving on the lake in front of them. 
These canoes were the boats of the Iroquois. 

The Iroquois landed and began to cut down trees 
to protect themselves. All night long the Algon- 
quins staid in their canoes, singing and shouting. 
When morning came, they landed, too, and the 
battle began. 

The Algonquins said to Champlain, " Shoot the 
Iroquois chiefs if you can. You will know them 
because they wear tall plumes." 

Champlain answered, " I will do my best." 

The Iroquois moved toward the Algonquins. 
Just then the Algonquins parted and Champlain 
stepped in front of them. The Iroquois were as- 
tonished. They had never seen a white man. 
They stopped. » 

Champlain raised his gun and fired. One of the 
chiefs fell. Then his soldiers fired, too. The Iro- 
quois were afraid of the guns. They did not know 
what to do. So they turned and ran into the forest 
and the battle was over. 

This is the way that Samuel de Champlain went 



i6o 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



on the warpath with his friends, the Algonquins, 
and found beautiful Lake Champlain. 



THE DUTCH SHIP "HALF MOON" 

NCE upon a time there lived an 

Englishman named Henry Hudson. 

He was a wise sailor. Many kings 

wished him to explore for them. 

But he decided to explore for 

the Dutch people. 

Hudson started on his trip in 
the very same year that Cham- 
plain discovered Lake Champlain 
He was to search for a short route 
^^ to Cathay by sailing east and around 

Asia. But the sea so far north was full of ice, and 
the sailors suffered with cold. 

So Hudson said he would turn west and search the 
shore of North America for a passage. We have 
read about other men who hunted for that same 
passage. 

Hudson steered his ship along the coast where 
Champlain had sailed. He found many things 
which Champlain had found. His men did not trust 
the Lidians, and were often cruel to them. 




THE DUTCH SHIP "HALF MOON" l6"i 

He saw French vessels, but kept out of their way. 
He was not sure the French would wish him to 
explore the country they claimed. 

At last the Dutch ship sailed as far south as that 
part of our country which we call Virginia. 

There, Hudson knew, was an English settlement. 
And there lived a friend of his, Captain John Smith. 
But Hudson did not stop. He did not think the 
English would wish him to explore the country 
which they claimed. 

So he turned his ship north again and entered 
what is now New York Harbor. Verrazzano had 
stopped at this same spot nearly ninety years before. 

It was September and about two months after 
Champlain had discovered his lake. The Dutch 
and English sailors were delighted with the harbor 
they had found. The water was deep and there 
were many fish. 

The Indians they saw were dressed in deerskins. 
They were friendly and willing to trade with the 
crew. But the sailors could not trust them. Once 
the Indians set upon a small boat load of white, 
men, who had been exploring the shore. 

They shot arrows at the sailors. It began to rain, 
and the sailors' guns would not go off in the rain. 
One man was killed. It became dark, and they 
could not find their ship. So they rowed to and fro 



l62 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

during that long, stormy night. At last morning 
came and they saw the Half Moon. 

The Half Moon then sailed up the stream which 
we call the Hudson River. 

When the vessel ancliored, she was visited by 
many canoes filled with men, women, and children. 
The crew did not allow any of these Indians to go 
on board. 

But they traded with them. They exchanged 
knives, beads, and hatchets for oysters, beans, corn, 
pumpkins, tobacco, grapes, and furs. 

At last the Half Moon reached the place where 
the city of Albany now is. Hudson decided to turn 
back, for the water was growing shallow. On 
the way down the river he had trouble with the 
Indians. 

One Indian kept his canoe close to the stern of 
the Half Moon. When no one was looking, he 
climbed up the rudder to the cabin window. From 
the cabin he stole a pillow and two shirts. 

A sailor saw him and shot at him. The next day 
.many Indians attacked the Dutch vessel. The crew 
fired iruns at them and drove them off. 

Soon after this, the Half Moon sailed away for 
the Dutch city of Amsterdam. But when she 
reached England, some of the sailors made Hudson 
land. He did not wish to stop. He wished to get 



THE DUTCH SHIP -'HALF MOON" 



163 



back to the Dutch people, who had sent him on the 
voyage. 

He wished to tell them where he had been and 
what he had seen. He wished them to know of 
the river he had 
explored and of the 
great bay where 
he had anchored. 

Before he could 



// 




set sail from Eng- 
King 



land, King James 
forbade him to 
leave the country. 
Probably the king 
did not wish him 
to discover lands 
for other nations. 
Hudson was an 
Enorlishman. He 
had to obey his 
own king. 

So he did not explore again for the Dutch. But 
they must have been well satisfied with his voyage. 

He did not find the way to Cathay, but he claimed 
for the Dutch a part of North America. Some 
years later the Dutch made a settlement where the 
city of New York now stands. 



HE CLIMBED UP THE RUDDER. 



164 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 




LOCKED IN THE ICE 

HENRY HUDSON was next sent 
out by England to explore. He 
was to find a northwest passage 
to Cathay, People could not 
give up searching for that 
short route. 

When his vessel reached 
Iceland, his men saw a 
mountain which spouted 
fire. This was a volcano. The sailors were afraid 
of it. They thought it meant that they would have 
bad luck on their voyage. 

They found on the shore a hot spring. Here all 
the Englishmen bathed. One of the men said, 
" The water was hot enough to scald a fowl." 

Near the coast of Greenland they saw many 
whales. Two came so close to them that the sailors 
were much frightened. They feared the whales 
would knock the vessel over. One swam under 
the ship, but did not upset it. 

Then they began to see huge icebergs. One of 
these turned over in the water when they were quite 
close to it. This showed the sailors that they must 
keep away from icebergs, if they did not wish their 
vessel smashed into pieces. 



LOCKED IN THE ICE 1 65 

The men became more and more afraid. Every- 
thing frightened them. Some of them really fell 
sick with fear. 

They began to hate Hudson for taking them to 
that dreadful place, just as Columbus's men had 
hated him. They would hardly do their work. 

Hudson did not know what to say. But there 
was another brave man on that ship. This was the 
ship's carpenter. He talked to the other sailors, 
and at last they went back to their work. 

At one place, where some of the men landed, 
they found many round heaps of stones like hay- 
cocks. These mounds were hollow, and filled with 
birds hanging by their necks. They were Eskimo 
storehouses. 

The sailors wished Hudson to take the fowls for 
provisions. But he would not stop long enough. 
He was in a hurry. 

Every day he expected to discover the passage. 
He had sailed to the westward and was now in 
Hudson Bay. All the summer and all the autumn 
he searched and searched. 

He searched so long that cold weather came on. 
Then he knew that he must spend the winter in 
that bay. During November his ship was frozen 
fast in the ice. 

He had provisions for only six months. He 



1 66 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



knew it would be longer than that before his vessel 
would be free from the ice which held it fast. 

His crew were angry because they were caught in 

that cold country. They 
were angry when they 
thought of the store- 
houses full of birds. If 
only Hudson had taken 
those, they were sure 
they would have had 
plenty of food. 

That winter was a 
dreadful time. They 
were so far north that 
the cold was terrible. 
Some of the men died. 
Most of them had their 
feet frozen. They had 
very little to eat. 

When spring came, 
the ice in the bay broke. The men could see 
open water about them. But their vessel was 
still frozen fast, and they could not sail away in 
her. 

They wandered here and there in search of some- 
thing to eat. Sometimes they even ate a kind of 
moss. This is good food for reindeer, but not for 




HIS SHIP WAS FROZEN FAST IN 
THE ICE. 



ADRIFT ON HUDSON BAY 167 

men. One of the sailors said, "I believe the powder 
of a post would taste much better." 

And so these poor people lived, and watched the 
ice melt from their ship. They expected Hudson to 
sail at once for England v^hen the ship was free. 
We shall see whether he did so. 



ADRIFT ON HUDSON BAY 

AT last the vessel was free from the ice. 
/~\ Did Henry Hudson turn toward home.? 
No, he still wished to search for that 
passage. He was sure he should soon 
find it. Then he could sail onward to 
Cathay. There he could get plenty of 
food. 

His sailors did not wish to do this. 
They had had enough of searching. 
They longed for England. So they 
tried to find some excuse to disobey their captain. 
Hudson divided among his men what little food 
remained. He gave each one an equal share. But 
the sailors pretended that they thought he had kept 
more for himself than he gave to them. 

One night they all rose, seized the ship, and made 




l68 STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 

Hudson a prisoner. The next morning they put 
Hudson, his son, and six men who were sick into a 
little boat and set them adrift. 

When the carpenter saw what was going on, he 
said, "You are murderers. Don't you know that 
these men will die? They have no food. They 
cannot sail in this little open boat. If you do this, 
you will be hanged when you reach England." 

But the sailors said, "We do not care." 

Then what do you suppose that brave carpenter 
did } He said, " You are not honest men. I will not 
sail with you any longer. I would rather die than 
leave my captain as you are doing. If you are 
bound to set him adrift, I will go with him." 

He took a gun, some powder and shot, an iron pot, 
and some meal. With these few supplies the little 
boat was left alone on that great bay. 

The sailors then steered for home. But many of 
them became so weak from want of food that they 
died before reaching England. Those who lived 
suffered terribly. They were well punished for 
their dreadful deed. 

And what became of those poor sick men set 
adrift in Hudson Bciy? What became of Henry 
Hudson and the brave carpenter, who chose to 
lose his life rather than to desert his captain } 

No one knows. When the English people heard 



ADRIFT ON HUDSON BAY 



169 



what had been done to Hudson, they sent out a 
ship to search for him. But the ship never found a 
sign of that boat load of brave men. 

Perhaps they starved to death. Perhaps their 
boat was wrecked. Perhaps the fierce animals of 
the Northland killed them. We shall never know. 




WORDS TO BE EXPLAINED AND 
PRONOUNCED 



Little Christopher Columbus 



Columbus and Diego go to Spain 



Italian 


statue 


monk 


court 


Genoa 


fastened 


prior 


route 


wharf 


Boston 


La Rabida 


messengei 


harbor 


wool comber 


(lara'be-da) 


palace 


cargo 


arithmetic 


Juan (hoo-an') 


foreheads 






Ferdinand 


nobles 


The First Voyaee of Columbus 










Isabella 


suffered 


cousin 


bombs 






crew 


Portugal 


Queen Isabella of Spain 


countries 


remained 










explained 


France 


merchants 


charts 




enemy 


convent 


patiently 
governor 
honor 


bracelets 
furnish 


vessel 


Fihppa 


wonderful 


lashed 


(fe-le'pa) 










sorrowful 


journey 


Columbus plans 


a Long Voyage 






perfectly 


traded 


The Three 


Ships 


countrymen 


distant 


Santa Maria 


frightened 


paddle 


spices 


(san'ta ma-re'a) 


promise 


islands 


precious 


Pinta (pen'ta) 


solemn 


Diego (de-a'go) 


India 


Nina (nen'ya) 


courage 






Spanish 


Palos 


King John ( 


)f Portugal 


admiral 


(pa'los) 


interested 


discouraged 


commander 


doubtful 


decided 


Spain 


uncertain 


prow 


splendid 




dragons 


creaking 



171 



172 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



Land at Last 


D5n Diego 


anxious 


Indians 


treasure 


relatives 


disgraced 


continents 


jealous 


Ponce de Leon 


beehives 


Hispaniola 


honored 


(pon'tha da la-on') 


copper-colored 


(es-pan-yo'Ia) 


neglected 


Porto Rico 


forgiveness 


climate 


group 


(por'to re'ko) 


scarlet 


deserted 


West Indies 




knelt 


timbers 


The Search for Fairyland 


possession 


fort 


metals 


fragrance 


acquainted 




elixir 


Spaniards 






fountain 


wharves 


Sailing Back to Spain 


surrounded 


claimed 


occasion 


South 


magic 


settlement 


procession 


America 


everlasting 


attacked 






youth 


wounded 


America 


Florida 


Cuba 


discouraging 


records 


The Southern Continent 


Columbia 


famous 


Pacific 


eastern 


Amerigo Vespucci 


Atlantic 


western 


(a-ma-re'go ves-poot'che) 


fashion 


Isthmus 






exactly 


of Panama 


John Cabot 


excited 


connects 


discoveries 


dangerous 








The Man who hid in the Barrel 


explorer 


icebergs 


TA • 




England 


Englishman 


Darien 


mainland 


Venice 


Italy 


permission 


unfriendly 


Sebastian 


snare 


provisions 


toil 


northern 


satisfied 


barren 


hardship 






shipwrecked 


succeeded 


The New Continent 


Vasco Nune2 


: de Balboa 






(vas'ko non'yat 


h da bal-bo'a) 


disappointed 


compass 


Francisco Pizarro 


globe 




(fran-thes'ko p 


e-thar'ro) 



WORDS TO BE EXPLAINED AND PRONOUNCED 173 



The South Sea 

stretched ornaments 

llama successful 

burdens 

Sailing to Mexico 

Cordova Hernando 

(kor'do-va) Cortez 

pilot (er-nan'do 

kor'tez) 

The First Treasures 

Montezuma helmets 

(mon-te-zoo'ma) statues 

Mexican mantles 
shields 

The Sinking of the Ships 

persuade altars 

Aztecs conquer 

worshiped Vera Cruz 

idols (va'ra krooz) 

Wonderful Sights 

volcano Tlascala 

reams (tias-ka'la) 

disputes Tlascalans 

(tlas'ka-lanz) 

The City of Mexico 

crater vegetables 

icicles vanilla 

situated flavoring 

capital chocolate 



cacao thatch 

(ka-ka'o or ka'ko) fibers 

plentiful quills 

aloe causeways 

(al'o) valuable 

Aztec Children at School 

weave fraction 

convenient 

The Emperor Montezuma 

capture comrades 



governed 
weapons 



terrible 



The Capture of Mexico 

struggle grateful 

destroyed 

Another Great Sailor 

direction Africa 

Manuel undertaking 

(ma-no-el') determined 

Ferdinand Magellan 
(ma-jel'an) 

Portuguese 

Vasco da Gama (da ga'ma) 

The Discovery of the Passage 

Tierra del Fuego 
(te-er'ra del fwa'go) 
strait 



174 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



The Ships that 


sailed around the 




World 


prepared 




natives 


scarcely 
biscuit 




Victoria 
port 


Philippine 




eager 


(fil'ip-in) 







Pizarro and Almagro (al-ma'gro) 



The Inca Atahuallpa (a-ta-hwal'pa) 

embroidered spurs 
gayly astonished 

fringe 

Hernando de Soto 

(er-nan'do da so'to) 

A Room Full of Gold 

linen freedom 



proved 


ammunition 


woolen imitations 


swine 


poisoned 




adventures 
supplies 


trinkets 


The Golden Country at Last 
canons quarreled 


Pizarro's 


Second Adventure 




ranges 


Peruvian 


The Adventure of a French Sailor 


sentinels 


attached 


P'renchmen gift 


guard 


powerful 


Francis welcome 


Andes 


Inca 


Verrazzano surf 


Tumbez 


(in'ka) 


(ver-ra-tsa'no) 


(toom'bath) 


fleet 


The Frenchmen and the Indians 


The 


Peruvians 


feathered horrible 


Cuzco (koos 


ko) strew 


daubed war whoops 


decorated 


stations 


ill-treated tomahawks 
civilized squaw 


The Peruvians {cont^ 
clothing canals 


wigwams papoose 
silently Cathay 
Norumbega 


obliged 


lances 


Jacques Cartier 


labor 




(zhak kar'tya) 



WORDS TO BE EXPLAINED AND PRONOUNCED 175 



What Jacques C 


artier Found 


The King's Treasure House 


gulf 


fleurs-de-lis 


Drake 


alarm 


westward 


(fler'de-le') 


daring 


bars 


St. Lawrence 




cove 


solid 


Up the St. Lawrence River 
canoe spruce 
pretended dreadful 


ghosts 

Nombre de Dios 
(nom'bra da de'os) 


warn 

waterfowl 

Montreal 

families 

dough 


rubies 
quartz 
crystal 
diamonds 


Francis Drake's Wish 

caravan anchored 
trail Plymouth 
dodged EHzabeth 


The Meirch of Hernando de Soto 


The English Dragon 


beheaded 


rescue 


cruise 


sacked 


tract 


captive 


Golden Hind 


wedges 


wandered 


couples 


forbidden 


leather 


bloodhounds 


Christians 


saluted 


emeralds 


guides 








The Discovery of the 

soil 

quantities 

escaped 


Mississippi River 

kindled 

forge 

braided 


Samuel de 

nation 

racquets 

squashes 


Champlain 

crabs 
trenches 


northward wilderness 
palisades 

Lost in North America 


How Champlain went on the Warpath 

Quebec rapids 
Algonquin smoother 


finished 


despair 


(al-gon'kwin) 


shelters 


bison 
buffalo 


frail 
spikes 


Iroquois 
(Tr-o-kwoi') 


protect 
opposite 


disappointments 


naked 


Richeheu 


Adirondacks 


dense 


pathless 


(re-she-loo') 


(ad-i-ron daks) 



176 



STORIES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERERS 



The Dutch Ship "Half Moon" 

Hudson oysters 

Asia Albany 

Virginia rudder 

Amsterdam 

Locked in the Ice 

northwest spouted 



scald 


Eskimo 


whales 


November 


carpenter 


reindeer 


Adrift on 


Hudson Bay 


murderers 


sign 


weak 





SUPPLEMENTARY READING 

By EDWARD EGGLESTON 

STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS FOR 

LITTLE AMERICANS $0.40 



THIS book is eminently suited to second year pupils. 
Not only does it make learning to read an easy task, 
but it provides matter which is stimulating and enjoy- 
able. By means of interesting personal anecdotes, the child 
is made familiar with the history of our country and some of 
its leading figures. Famous warriors and patriots, states- 
men, discoverers, inventors, men of science and letters, find 
a place in these tales. Some of the stories should be known 
to every American, because they have become a kind of 
national folk-lore. The words are not too difficult, while 
the sentences and paragraphs are short. 



STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND 

ADVENTURE $0.50 



HERE are presented for third year pupils exciting stories 
which tell of the adventurous pioneer life of this 
country, and which show why the national character 
is distinguished by traits of quick-wittedness, humor, self- 
reliance, love of liberty, and democratic feeling. These 
historical anecdotes include stories of Indian lite, of frontier 
peril and escape, of adventures with the pirates of Colonial 
times, of daring Revolutionary feats, of dangerous whaling 
voyages, of scientific explorations, and of personal encounters 
with savages and wild beasts. With them are intermingled 
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animals, the schools, and the children's plays of other times. 



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HISTORICAL READERS 

Bv H. A. GUERBER 



Story of the Thirteen Colonies So. 6 5 

Story of the Great Republic 65 

Story of the English 65 

Story of the Chosen People 60 

Story of the Greeks 60 

Storv of the Romans 60 



A LTHOUGH these popular books are intended primarily 
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of history. Beginning with the fifth school year, they can be 
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^ In these volumes the history cf some of the world's peoples 
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centered about the lives of great men of all times. Through- 
out the attempt has been made to give in simple, forceful lan- 
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^ No pains has been spared to interest boys and girls, to 
impart useful information, and to provide valuable lessons of 
patriotism, truthfulness, courage, patience, honesty, and in- 
dustry, which will make them good men and women. Many 
incidents and anecdotes, not included in larger works, are 
interspersed among the stories, because they are so frequently 
used in art and literature that familiarity with them is in- 
dispensable. The illustrations are unusually good. 
^[ The author's Myths of Greece and Rome, Myths of 
Northern Lands, and Legends of the Middle Ages, each, 
price ^1.50, present a fascinating account of those wonderful 
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GEOGRAPHICAL READERS 



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Asia . . . . .60 



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Australia, Our Colonies, 
and Other Islands of the 
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READERS ON COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 
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^ The books give a good idea of the various peoples, their 
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each country. The illustrations for the most part are repro- 
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the route taken over each continent. 

^ The Readers on Commerce and Industry give a personal 
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for themselves how the chief food staples are produced and 
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Only such biographies are presented as are necessary to the 
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EGGLESTON'S NEW CENTURY HISTORY 

OF THE UNITED STATES . . . . $1.00 

^ The author's purpose was to tell the story of our country 
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One novel feature of the book is a collection of brief biogra- 
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UNITED STATES 

Primary, ^0.60; School ^i.oo 

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<I22) 



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IN UNITED STATES HISTORY 

$0.30 

By FRANCIS H. WHITE, A.M., Professor of History 
and Political Science, Kansas State Agricultural College 



A BLANK book, which is intended for the pupil's use in 
connection with any good hist ."-y of the United States. 
It presents an original comuination of devices con- 
veniently arranged, and affords an unusually clear idea of our 
country's history in which the chief events are deeply impressed 
on the learner's mind. The entire development of the United 
States has been taken up in the most logical manner, and facts 
of a similar nature have been grouped naturally together. 
^ This material is in the form of outline maps, charts, tables, 
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compositions, etc. 

^ The use of this book has demonstrated that the teaching of 
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Mere memorizing is discouraged, and the pupil is compelled 
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^ The body of the book is divided into the following general 
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^[ The INTRODUCTORY GEOGRAPHY develops che 
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lesson paving the way for the next. In the treatment of the 
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and commercial conditions are taken up in their respective 
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each receiving more than usual consideration. The country 
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^ In the SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY a special feature is 
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life of other lands. 

^ The books are very attractive in mechanical appearance, 
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By A. C. McLEAN, A.M., Principal of" Luckey School, 
Pittsburg; THOMAS C. BLAISDELL, A.M., Pro- 
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Pittsburg; and JOHN MORROW, Superintendent of 
Schools, Allegheny, Pa. 



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^y From the start the attempt has been made to base the work 
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Davis & Chow-Leung's Chinese 

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For Children of 12 to 14 Years of Age 



Johnson's Story of Two Boys 
Schwartz's Famous Pictures 
Children 



of 



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Last of the Mohicans (Haight) . 35 

Adventures of Pathfinder (Haight) .35 



Keffer's Nature Studies on the 

Farm ;^.40 

Nixon- Roulet's Japanese Folk 

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l\ 



ifK^' \^X'^' \ f ^' lijg&ipJpKP?! 




^ „^oV OF CONGRESS 

"liiiii 

QQ0QaH7535Q ^ 




